


Math Cadets

by TheatrePhantom



Series: Cadets [1]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Technology, Alien/Human Relationships, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Competition, Crying, Daddy Issues, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Engineering, Fights, Fist Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, For Science!, High School, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Math Cadets AU, Mathematics, Men Crying, Mild Blood, Minor Violence, Not Beta Read, Not much more violence than happens in the show they just fight a bit, Private School, Science, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, Technology, Uneasy Allies, Violence, ZADE, ZADF, ZaDr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:02:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 46,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24307885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatrePhantom/pseuds/TheatrePhantom
Summary: Dib had attended a somewhat elite STEM school for several years, easily climbing to the top of all of his classes upon entering the school and remaining in that position throughout several years. He lived a comfortable life like this, things staying fairly stable and regular throughout his life… that is until a new student arrived.This entire AU concept was created by @_dont_forget_.me._ on Instagram or @all_is_fair_in_zadr_and_oreos on here and was inspired by me being an idiot and misspelling “Mothman” as “Mathman” on a previous fic of mine.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Cadets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872922
Comments: 226
Kudos: 170





	1. New Kid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aifizao](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aifizao/gifts).



> I genuinely don't know how to tag my stories, please help, I am so stupid.

Being the son of world-renowned Professor Membrane meant a lot of things. It meant a slightly strange family dynamic, it meant weird, new technology and experiments coming in and out of the house constantly, it meant pressure from the world, and, as Dib had learned several years ago, it meant attending one of the most elite schools in their area. Astra Academy- the school district that Dib had been part of ever since childhood- was the local STEM school that focused the majority of its education system around science and mathematics while still focusing on the engineering and technology aspects of education far more than typical schools did. Considering what fantastic work they did in the areas of mathematics and science, Professor Membrane enlisted both of his children in the curriculum as soon as they were old enough to attend.

Dib supposed that, had he attended any other school, he would be universally hated by his peers. He came from a more wealthy and powerful family than the majority of his fellow students did and had some obsessions that he knew wouldn’t be considered normal at a school that wasn’t specifically _for_ students like he was. His obsession with the paranormal and with aliens, in general, was fairly weird at his school as it was and that was taking into consideration the fact that several others attending his school _also_ believed in those things. He was also _shockingly_ good at his schoolwork in a way that was, at Astra Academy, impressive, but would likely just be irritating at any “normal” school system- especially when considering what he _did_ with his abilities. 

Astra Academy had high expectations for its students and always had since they first opened. Students could crack under the pressure of regular public schools, so, needless to say, that wasn’t any different at Astra- not when the expectations were frequently even _higher_ there. Good grades in Astra meant _amazingly_ high chances of getting scholarships and being recognized by and accepted into the best schools in the world. Several students who made fantastic discoveries at their school even ended up being able to take part in conferences held by _real_ scientists and people working in whatever field it was that they had made breakthroughs in. Students made _discoveries_ about the scientific world at their school rather than just learning about them and those who did were immediately highly regarded by local universities. Overall, the better you did in Astra Academy, the better you did in _life_ and the more likely it was that the rest of your life would be far easier than the average person’s. Considering the fact that the majority of parents who sent their child there did so with that in mind, most of his peers’ parents were, well, hardasses and not particularly forgiving or understanding when they struggled with school. It was a lot of pressure weighing on the majority of them- and that was just where their grades and such were concerned. 

As much as Dib felt for the people who attended school alongside him and were struggling immensely- both in school and mentally _because_ of school- he had never been the most… empathetic person ever. In fact, he saw his peers struggling around him and immediately thought about how he could twist the situation to benefit himself. 

He… felt a little guilty about that. 

Dib tried not to let the guilt get to him, though. It wasn’t like he was exchanging doing people’s homework, tutoring them, and feeding them test answers for money or drugs, so he gave himself a little slack. The only thing that he was receiving in exchange was assistance in his paranormal research and avoiding harassment from his fellow students. He tutored or blatantly gave others answers to homework in exchange for their respect and help on his journeys. Despite it being a somewhat seedy business, he was good at it and a lot of people either needed or wanted his help. The little business that Dib had set up for himself long ago had only grown over the years and had put him on a bit of a pedestal in his school (now that DIb thought about it, he was almost certain that the majority of his peers would hate him, were they not afraid of openly doing so… oops). 

No matter, though. What _did_ matter was the fact that he was absolutely thriving in school and that _that_ helped him succeed in his studies that took place outside of school as well as spreading the word of his research along the way. Dib was doing wonderfully at school and he was happy with where he was. Life was reasonably stable, even with the strangeness of STEM school in mind, and that allowed him to clearly see his bright future as a revered paranormal investigator. He had almost no obstacles in the way of his future and the security of his day-to-day life made everything easy and predictable. 

That was, at least, until _Zim_ arrived at their school. 

Despite their school being incredibly diverse considering their area, Zim was the only kid in the entire school with pale green skin, no nose, and no ears. He was the only one of them with that particular, strange vernacular that he used. He was the only student who was very clearly inhuman in _every way_ , yet no one saw it aside from Dib and his younger sister. 

A combination of disinterest and being far too laser-focused on their studies in school made the for the perfect cocktail of willful delusion and ignorance. Dib may have been surrounded by plenty of smart kids, but he was surrounded by just as many idiots. The morons and geniuses alike were completely overlooking the fact that Zim was _clearly_ not of their world. 

The moment Zim walked into Dib’s chemical engineering classroom and introduced himself as “Zim; the _normal human_ ” Dib knew he was an alien- how could he _not_? As he heard the strange introduction, his gaze scanned across the room at his fellow students, but the majority of them were either focusing on their work and getting a head start on their class in some way or were just completely ignoring him in favour of chatting or daydreaming. None of the other students seemed as deeply disturbed and shocked at the presence of Zim- all too preoccupied or disinterested to care.

 _Seriously?_

Dib was mildly disgusted and surprised that none of the others seemed to take any notice, though he supposed, considering he was one of the only ones in the class who was interested in aliens, it shouldn’t have been too shocking.

Even if his peers didn’t notice what Zim was right away, Dib wouldn’t let that distract him or change his mind. He _knew_ he was right and, with his intellect, the power of the student body, and the assistance of technology all on his side, he would be able to finally succeed in what he had wanted for the longest time. Dib would be able to prove that aliens were _real_!

When Mrs. Summers told Zim to take a seat anywhere in the class, Dib called him over to his own table- he didn’t have a consistent lab partner like most of the others did, anyways. At the very least, this would give him the opportunity to carefully watch and research Zim- maybe even get into his head a little bit and intimidate him (Dib was thankful that he had taken that psychology class last year). 

“Hello, fellow worm-baby,” Zim flashed Dib a grin, bearing his strange, off-coloured, zipper-like teeth. 

Dib just narrowed his eyes at Zim for a moment before glancing to the people seated at the lab table behind them. He gestured at Zim somewhat dramatically, “Are you guys _not_ seeing this?”

The two of them just shrugged and returned to their work. 

“What is there to see? I am just a normal, disgusting human like you are.”

Dib turned his attention back towards Zim, leaning in towards him and pushing against the chair to raise himself up slightly, hoping that it would come off as intimidating (did the kind of psychology that they covered in class last year apply to aliens as well?). 

“They may not notice what you are, _Zim_ ,” Dib glared threateningly, “But _I_ have no problem seeing through your disguise, _Space Boy_.”

Zim returned the glare, “Whatever are you talking about, Stinky?”

“You may have them fooled for now, but there is no way in _hell_ I am going to let it stay that way for long. I will be your worst nightmare. Don’t get too confident in your position here on Earth.”

“We’ll see about that, Earth Trash.”

“They _all_ will, once I’m through with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never gone to a STEM school, so I would like to apologize for anything that I get wrong about said schools while working on this. I am going purely off of articles I’ve read and stories I’ve heard from people who HAVE attended schools like these. I have done a little research on them, though, so that I can hopefully paint the picture of this school as accurately as possible.


	2. Flimsy Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit all over the place and, while I was going to reread this before posting... I felt bad about going so long without updating and I just didn't have the energy. I am genuinely SO sorry, but I just couldn't. LDKSjdf.

“Come _on_ , Keef! You _know_ that Zim is an alien! It’s so obvious!” Dib’s tutoring session with Keef was coming to a close and they were, as per the usual, discussing methods of “payment” for this weeks’ particular session. Considering Keef worked on the school paper and had a bit of power when it came to what did and didn’t get into specific sections, Dib thought he was the perfect target to speak to about this. Since the majority of the students there did nearly anything he asked them to if he helped them enough, he had been _positive_ that Keef would help him out here. He was the only person- aside from Gaz- that he had spoken to about what Zim was. 

“Look, Dib, I hate doing this, but Zim is really nice!” Keef insisted, “Besides, we don’t have enough evidence to put this in the school paper in the first place- and it’s not just me you have to convince. It’s _everyone_ on the paper who has to agree, _plus_ Mrs. Valentine since she’s the one who proofreads all of our papers.”

“ _Okay_ , then I’ll just get them all on my side. I help almost _every_ student in this school, I’m sure I can get everyone on the paper to agree with me,” Dib leaned back in his chair, frowning, “And the teachers love me. Mrs. Valentine can’t be too hard to convince.”

“You would think that, but she’s _really_ against us writing anything too negative or expository about other students, here…” 

“Okay, then we’ll work _around_ that.”

“Dib, I just don’t think it’s possible!” Keef persisted, “Besides, Zim is nice to me! I don’t want to do anything that could upset him.”

Dib was practically seething. He and Keef weren’t exactly _close_ in any capacity- they weren’t friends and the only times that they saw one another outside of school was when they met for Dib to tutor and cheat for Keef. Their relationship was purely professional and didn’t even kind of dip into the territory about them being friends for one another. Despite this, Dib had a very stable “I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine” kind of deal with all of his clients; he helped them with their schoolwork or gave them answers to the homework or helped them cheat on tests and they did whatever he wanted from them in return. He had always relied on this system for what he needed within the school. It was the source of all of his power. His intellect and him helping people was the only thing that really kept him afloat in their school. If he weren’t doing this little business on the side, he wouldn’t be anywhere near as successful and respected as he currently was. Considering how heavily so many of the others he tutored relied upon him, he had never had any of them blatantly go against or ignore his requests. Despite their lack of closeness, he certainly didn’t expect Keef- the sweet, happy-go-lucky, easily manipulated Keef- to be the first one to break the cycle. 

What irritated him more than that was the fact that Keef didn’t seem to believe him despite the evidence that was clearly given to them and completely on display. The fact that Keef seemed to trust _Zim_ of all people more than he trusted Dib irritated him to no end. He had helped Keef get through school for so many years and now, all of a sudden, when _one_ new student showed up and spoke to him for no more five minutes, Keef was willing and ready to just… stop believing and helping Dib?

Dib clenched his jaw bitterly, “If I find _more_ evidence, will you put me in the paper?”

“Well…”

“ _Keef_ ,” Dib sighed insistently, “I just need you to help me here. If I can find good, accurate, obvious evidence that Zim is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, an alien, _will_ you include it in the paper.” 

Dib help Keef’s gaze intensely, refusing to look away or even blink as he stared into the other’s soul, watching as he shifted nervously. 

“...I’ll do what I can.”

Dib sighed and nodded, “Good.” With that, Dib scooped up his backpack to leave the classroom that they had been using to study after school hours, “I’ll see you next Thursday.”

Keef being resistant to Dib’s requests and him not only trusting but _liking_ Zim certainly made things more complicated. Without the undivided help from Keef that he had been anticipating, he would need to put forth more effort- especially if he was going to convince the rest of the kids on the school paper as well as the teacher editor of it. The added obstacle was irritating only because he hadn’t expected it- especially not it stemming from _Keef_ of all people. 

Nonetheless, Dib _knew_ that he could do this. He was nothing if not a resilient problem-solver, and he had plenty of other things on his side to assist him in proving what Zim really was. He just had to wait for the right moment and collect enough data.

~~~

Dib wasn’t convinced that finding evidence to help prove his point would be any difficult feat- Zim wasn’t exactly _stealthy_ by any means. His disguise was horrible and easy to see through and his mannerisms were very telling of what he truly was. Not only that, but Zim was clearly not yet used to acting like a human and being part of their world. Dib was certain that it was only a matter of time before Zim slipped up and gave him the evidence he would need to support his “theory”. 

Until then, though, he wasn’t _just_ going to wait. Dib knew war strategy and he understood psychological warfare enough to know that waiting for Zim to make the first move and mess up was stupid- especially considering the fact that it was _incredibly_ likely that Zim had more training in that area than Dib did and had far more advanced technology on his side. 

No, Dib would have to find the evidence on his own, whether or not Zim slipped up. He didn’t _need_ the alien to mess up to give him an opportunity. He had plenty of ways to crack through Zim’s shell and see what was going on. Even just finding Zim’s base would likely be enough for Dib- allowing him to figure out ways to infiltrate it and gather evidence. 

He was confident that it wouldn’t take him long to expose Zim and that it would be far from the most difficult thing he would ever have to do. 

For now, though, he just had to suffer through chemical engineering alongside the idiotic alien.

The assignment that they were working on at the moment was a research paper in which they were tasked to find inventive and creative solutions to whatever problem they were given regarding the more molecular biology sides of chemical engineering. For them at the moment, it meant proposing ideas for how to resolve the issues regarding there being a lack of organs and tissue combine with the issue of many people’s bodies refusing to accept new organs introduced to their bodies. 

As expected, Zim had some unorthodox suggestions for how to avoid these two problems. 

“Why not just kill people off for the organs and tissue?”

Dib couldn’t help but facepalm, “That’s _unethical_ , Zim, and will _definitely_ get us kicked out of school or reported to psychologists if we suggest that.”

“It’s a simple fix!” Zim defended, crossing his arms. 

“It doesn’t even address the other problem we were assigned to answer- how to reduce the issue of people not being able to accept everyone’s organs.”

“Ah, another simple fix,” Zim proclaimed, raising up one finger as though to make his point, “Kill off their family members!” 

Dib deadpanned, “You have _got_ to be kidding me.”

“It solves _both_ problems with very little effort! It provides the necessary organs and such for the people and, due to their aligning DNA, they will have no problem accepting the new organs.”

“You are an _idiot_ ,” Dib groaned, “How are you still passing as a human when you suggest shit like _that_ in _public_?”

Zim’s eyes darted across the classroom nervously as Dib mentioned the fact that they were, indeed, in a public place of sorts. He raised his voice slightly as he spoke, “ _Pass_ as human? I _am_ human- a filth worm just like all of you.”

“You’re insufferable.” 

“I could say the same to you, Dib-Stink.”

Dbi shook his head, ignoring the alien in favour of beginning to write an _actual_ proposition down on their paper, outlining the benefits of 3D printing to provide the organs required and combining those new organs with the patient’s own DNA to ensure that it wasn’t rejected. 

“Eh? What are you writing, worm?” Zim tilted his head to get a better look over Dib’s shoulder. 

“Unlike _you_ , I’m actually doing our work and writing a reasonable suggestion that a _sane_ human being could actually think of and accept.”

Once more, Zim crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he spoke, “Zim sees no problem with his suggestion.”

“Killing people is illegal and would in _no way_ be considered an ethical way to solve either of these problems. You may be alright with sabotaging yourself considering your shitty disguise, but _I_ , on the other hand, am not going to let that happen to myself. I’m not going to get kicked out of school just because you want to turn in some wacky shit for our project.”

Zim rolled his eyes, the human expression of irritation looking strange on the alien, pupils not moving perfectly as though they weren’t used to making such movements just yet. “Very well, just hurry up and complete the work.”

Dib glared and pointed his pencil at the alien threateningly, though he knew that his weapon of choice was a rather weak one, even if he was to disregard the fact that he was up against a creature that was far more powerful than he was. 

Infuriatingly, Zim just laughed. 

Dib almost throttled him on the spot. 

~~~

It was a wonder that Dib got through the rest of the day without killing Zim. Aside from him being a hindrance in their little project for their bioengineering class and the general irritation that Dib felt towards him anytime he did or said something obviously inhuman that was met with no response from anyone else, he had just been an absolute bitch all day. Dib supposed that that was just the nature of the alien- obnoxious and loud. He seemed to have one volume and that volume was far louder than any human had the right to be. 

The absolute fury that Zim inspired in Dib, though, did little more than fuel him and he fully welcomed the stupid outbursts that Zim occasionally had since they all had the possibility of garnering someone else’s attention. 

Dib knew that he couldn’t rely on that, though, and the strange things that Zim had openly said and done throughout the day to no avail confirmed that to Dib. What _would_ help him in this situation, though- at least in Dib’s opinion- was keeping a journal regarding the alien. It would allow him to take physical notes rather than just mental notes that could easily be forgotten and would make it easier for him to organize his thoughts regarding the situation. Plus, on the off chance that Zim became violent to the point of killing Dib off (which, considering the fact that he was an alien attempting to enslave the human race, didn’t seem impossible), leaving behind a physical copy of his findings would allow others to pick up where he left off.

Besides, Dib liked the drama of it. 

As soon as school was over, he headed to the nearby store to purchase the thickest college-ruled notebook that he could find and slip it into his backpack, hiding it among his other things. It may have been a simple, small thing, but it would allow him to create a “scrapbook” of evidence against Zim. It was small, but it was a decent “secret weapon” and Dib was certain that it would come in handy. 

Upon returning to his home, he went upstairs, locking himself into his bedroom as per the usual to begin his work. Instead of focusing on his homework and studying as he typically did when he first got home, he cracked open his Zim notebook and began recording the things that he already knew about the alien, citing strange things the creature had said and done since arriving at Astra Academy. 

While Dib hadn’t anticipated spending much time on it before getting back to his classwork, he only stopped working on the notebook when he heard Gaz bang on his bedroom door, telling him to come down for dinner.

Dib blinked in surprise glancing from his notebook where he was in the midst of writing one of his theories about the alien up to his clock which displayed the time. It was nearly six-thirty- not _too_ late, but he had definitely gotten far too wrapped up in his Zim research and recording than he had meant to. 

He shook his head, setting his journal down so he could head downstairs to eat before returning. He may have spent more time on it than he had anticipated, but, at the very least, he knew that his research and recording would eventually come in handy if he wanted to ever prove what Zim was. So what if it took a lot of effort- that was life and Dib was _far_ from unfamiliar with putting forth ridiculous amounts of work to get even simpler things in life done. Going to school where he had and having Professor Membrane as a dad taught him that from a young age. Dib wasn’t scared of needing to put forth his all to take down the alien and, if it meant saving the world and gaining the respect from those around him as well, he would do _anything_ to take Zim down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Oh, I’ll have Dib and Zim share some sort of maths class as well as a bioengineering class, since that sounds interesting and cool and like something they would both excel at.  
> Also me: *Knows little to nothing about bioengineering- let alone what a class regarding it specifically would look like.* 
> 
> I… could have thought that through more carefully.


	3. Fight Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually edited it, this time. Heck yeah.

Zim hadn’t expected Dib to be such a formidable foe. On the outside, he looked just like a normal human- thought his head was a little bigger and his hair _was_ somewhat strange for an Earthling. Other than that, though, he looked just as pathetically weak and puny as any other human on their planet and, considering how scrawny he looked, Zim hadn’t anticipated Dib being able to pack a decent punch. Shockingly though, the human’s bite was just as powerful as his bark and Zim found himself struggling far more than he had excepted while attempting to take down the human obstacle. 

All these realizations hit Zim at full force as a trace amount of Zim’s pink, translucent blood trickled down his face, splattering onto the front of the school uniform he so begrudgingly wore. 

With a glare twisting its way onto his face, Zim wiped away the blood away with the back of his hand, not breaking eye contact with Dib as he did so, “You _dare_ attack the Almighty Zim and expect to win, fool-boy?”

Dib just laughed at Zim’s words- much to the alien’s dismay and irritation- clearly not perturbed in the least, “Say what you want, Space Boy. _I’m_ going to be victorious here.”

“Stupid human _worm_!” Zim growled, finally releasing his pak legs, rearing up on them to charge at the human. As they had slowly moved their fight to an abandoned alleyway behind the school, completely devoid of any other humans, Zim wasn’t worried about blowing his cover and pushed aside all concerns regarding that in favour of sprinting towards the human with all of the intensity that he held within his small body. 

Despite the quick movements of Zim practically flying over the pavement towards Dib, moving like a spider dancing across the surface of a lake, Dib wasn’t frightened at all. In fact, he practically beamed as Zim’s metallic legs shot out from his back, whipping out the camera he had stored in the pocket of his trenchcoat and snapping several pictures of the alien rushing towards him rather than running away in terror the moment that he saw the extra appendages emerge. 

This only went to further piss off Zim. He crouched once close enough to Dib and launched himself several feet up into the air, catapulting himself towards the human.

Unfortunately, though, Zim seemed to have given Dib more time than he had intended, causing him to crash down to the spot where Dib had been mere _moments_ after the human had managed to escape, darting quickly to another part of the alleyway. The concrete beneath Zim fractured just barely underneath his form, cracks spiderwebbing across the surface from the aggressive force Zim had reigned down upon it at the hands of his pak legs.

Zim didn’t let that discourage him, though. He whirled around immediately, spidery legs working quickly so that he could catch Dib in his sights once more. 

Dib continued to grin up at the alien gleefully, brandishing the camera that was in his hands as though it were a weapon of mass destruction rather than a simple piece of human technology that could be purchased at nearly any store. In many ways, though, the camera _was_ a fantastic weapon that Dib had on his side and could easily take Zim down if any of the pictures got out into the public. Zim may have been confident in his abilities- cocky, even- but he was not a fool. He knew what the Dib was capable of, and he knew what that camera could do to him.

Zim launched himself at the human once more, this time calculating the correct amount of time for himself and managing to land directly on top of him before he could escape, caging him in with his long pak legs and pinning him to the ground with his own hands. He dug his claws into Dib’s shoulders, piercing through the fabric of his clothes and digging into his skin, drawing blood from the tiny wounds. A haughty grin spread across his face as he raised a free pak leg above the human’s head, poised to snap down and land a killing blow at any moment. “Not so brave now, eh, Dib?” 

“Fuck you, you damn insect!” Dib snapped back before taking his camera up his in hands once more and shoving it far too close to Zim’s face for comfort. Before the alien could react to the movement, a blindingly bright, silver light filled his vision, completely blocking out his sight as painful heat washed over him for a moment. 

Zim slammed the pak leg down aimless, feeling it make contact with _something_ but unable to see whether or not it had hit the mark he had been hoping for. He didn’t know when he had withdrawn his hands from his rival, but he found them scrubbing at his eyes, attempting to massage the pain from them by doing so. Only a few seconds of this passed before Zim could see well enough to gather his bearings once more, but the mere moments that had him incapacitated had been enough time for the Dib to flee the scene, escaping from his terrible fate.

Just as Zim was about to run after the human, fully prepared to chase him all the way across town in an attempt to defeat him, he noticed something. Where Dib had been only moments before was the shattered remains of the camera Dib had been wielding. Bits of metal and shards of glass from the device scattered along the pavement where the human had once been, the once-powerful camera reduced to rubble. 

The sight soothed Zim and he felt his shoulders relax as he finally retracted his pak legs. He may not have been able to destroy the human as he had desired, but, at the very least, he had destroyed the weapon that the Dib had attempted to use on him. Without it, he didn’t have the pictures that could so easily get in the way of Zim’s plans. He had bought himself some more time by ruining the camera and, at the moment, that was enough for Zim. He was satisfied that he had, essentially, won that battle and Zim couldn’t help but feel at least a little proud of himself for so easily getting in the way of the human and ceasing his foolish actions. 

Zim peered down at the ruined remains of the camera that now rested on the ground before him. While he wasn’t particularly impressed by the device (it _was_ only human-made, after all), he decided that there was potential for it to come in handy or something. While Zim wasn’t entirely sure what drove him to do so, Zim found himself scooping up the remaining debris and shoved them into the pockets of his pants. 

With that, Zim turned away and made his way back to his base, leaving the now-empty alleyway behind him. 

~~~

Dib returned home feeling pretty good about what had happened that day during their fight. Yes, Zim had drawn blood and torn up Dib’s uniform (something that Dib was actually a little pissed off about (those uniforms weren’t _free_ , after all)), but Dib had done about just as much damage as the Invader had. While Zim _had_ destroyed the camera that Dib had been using, there was something that the alien hadn’t expected. 

With a devious grin, Dib reached into the pocket of his coat, removing a small, thin, grey chip from within. 

It was the memory card from the camera. 

While Dib bolted from Zim the first time the alien had used his strange metal legs to leap towards Dib, he managed to remove the card and stash it safely in his pockets quickly enough that the alien didn’t notice. The camera may have been completely shot, but the memory card was all that he needed as far as evidence went. 

Dib sat down at his computer the moment he returned home- not bothering to start on his homework, yet. While he wasn’t going to let his schoolwork fall completely to the wayside because of the new obstacles in his life, he still wasn’t going to let school get in the way of him doing something far more important. Sometimes, school could come second- and one of those situations was when the safety of the entire planet hung in the balance. The weight of the world’s safety rested squarely on Dib’s shoulders and he wasn’t going to let something as simple as school get in the way of that.

He wasted no time in inserting the memory card into the correct slot on his computer and uploading its contents to the secondary device, saving it to a new file on his computer that Dib had simply labelled “Zim”.

With everything safely uploaded, Dib was able to sift through the images that he had managed to capture on his camera, looking at everything he had caught back in that alley. 

The first few pictures were so blurry that there were no definite shapes to even be made out of it. Dib was still hopeful that at least _one_ of them would be decent, nonetheless, and refused to let the first few pictures discourage him. The more he looked at the pictures, though, the more that hope waned, until he had gotten through every single one of the pictures he had taken and saw that _none_ of them were perfect. There were several that were decent enough, with Zim’s face forming a slightly more obvious outline, but he was moving so fast that his pak legs were blurred ridiculously. In the pictures, it was difficult to see that they were actually connected to him, and it was nearly impossible in any of them to see how strange the situation had actually been.

Despite the fact that none of them were as good as Dib had wanted, he decided to print out some of the better ones and refused to delete _any_ of them from his computer, just in case. 

The few that Dib decided were good enough (though even _those_ were kind of shit), he carefully taped inside his “Zim journal”, attaching them to a page that Dib then titled “Zim Pak Attack Pictures” (he thought the title was creative), and adding the date and time (or his closest estimation of the time) next to it. 

The pictures may not have been perfect, but they were better than nothing. Besides, Dib had more time at his disposal, he would be able to gather more, higher-quality evidence as time went on. He was sure of it.


	4. Abstract Algebra and Abstract Relations

Abstract Algebra was not a class that Zim found particularly difficult. Of course, it was incredibly boring and listening to the teacher drone on for what felt like hours frequently made him just want to go to sleep if only so he could pass the time less painfully, but he didn’t struggle in the class. He had learned far more difficult things while training under the Irken Armada, so these simple high school equations were no match for him. In fact, Zim rarely paid any attention in that class in particular. As it turned out, not paying attention in  _ that _ specific class and passing it with flying colours didn’t typically go hand in hand for the humans. 

“You know,” Keef mentioned off-handedly in the last few minutes of their class, “It’s really impressive that you’re doing so well in this class without paying attention and without going to Dib for help.”

Zim restrained a groan at the mere mention of the name. While he despised every single person in the entire godforsaken building, Dib and Keef were particularly irritating to him. While Keef was nearly just as obsessed with Zim as Dib was, he was far less challenging and threatening, which somehow made him even more irritating to the Irken, considering there was absolutely  _ nothing  _ interesting about the interactions they shared. At least, with Dib, Zim could have a little fun, even if that fun lead to lots of blood and scraps of shrapnel everywhere. 

“I doubt it’s that abnormal to do well in this class.”

“It kind of is,” The purple-haired girl sitting behind Zim chimed in. She had metal brackets stretching across her teeth and her hair was tied into three, disgusting ponytails. While she wasn’t anywhere near as irritating as Dib nor Keef were, Zim wished she would stop targetting him with her passive-aggressive words if she didn’t have anything  _ important  _ to say or do. She either didn’t know or didn’t care that Zim felt this way, though, and continued talking, “It’s  _ really _ weird that you do so well in here without paying  _ any  _ attention. You of  _ all  _ people should need Dib’s help.”

Hearing that made Zim angrily grip the pen he held in his hands, nearly breaking it in the process. He needed no help from anyone-  _ especially _ that idiotic, big-headed nuisance of a human. How dare a low-life such as her attempt to claim such hideous things about Zim and his capabilities?

“I fail to see what’s so special about the Dib.” Zim huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Dib’s one of the only students who actually knows what he’s doing in this class- in  _ all _ of his classes,” Gretchen explained, “Everyone goes to him for help because he’s a  _ genius _ . Considering who his dad is, it’s practically in his DNA.” 

“If you  _ know _ that there  _ are _ people who understand it, then why are you so hung up on the fact that  _ I _ understand it as well?” 

“Because you’re the  _ only one _ other than Dib who gets this shit with no problem- and  _ you _ don’t even pay any attention,” Gretchen completely glossed over the fact that most times,  _ Dib _ didn’t pay attention in class, either, “It’s  _ weird _ that you can do that.”

Zim clenched his jaw. While these humans were being completely  _ idiotic _ by finding his  _ math skills _ of all things strange, he knew that he couldn’t afford any suspicion from these people. Despite their words being ridiculous, perhaps it would be prudent to take them seriously. He didn’t want anyone else to take notice of the fact that there were things about him that set him apart from the others of the school. Zim didn’t need more nemesis than the one he currently had- Dib was already a handful on his own.

So, then and there, he decided that he had to change his tactics in school- or, at the very least, in that class. 

As irritating as it was, he went out of his way to get questions wrong every once in a while, levelling his test grades out slightly and making them seem less suspicious. Still, he didn’t like the idea of  _ not _ being superior to his peers in every way and, emotionally, he had a difficult time forcing himself to stoop to their level of intellect. 

Then, it clicked: if he were able to get Dib to “tutor” him, he would not only look more like a normal human to the others, but he would be able to gather more information about his rival.

A small smirk spread across his face. Perhaps Dib would come in handy, after all. 

~~~

Dib knew that he would need more evidence than he currently had to sway the opinion of the entire board on the school paper. As much as he wanted to give them updates every single time he discovered anything of interest, he thought that it would come off as strange and obsessive and he  _ refused _ to ruin the reputation that he had at Astra Academy. He knew that if he lost the fear and respect he had instilled in his fellow students, he would  _ very likely _ be subject to their harassment and his ego couldn’t take a hit like that. No, instead, he would wait and bide his time. Once he was able to find undeniable  _ proof _ of what Zim was,  _ then _ he would go to them. He would have no problems finding what he needed to- Dib was confident in himself. 

He just hadn’t anticipated his nemesis coming right up to him and asking for help, waltzing directly into his trap. 

At the very end of their Chemical Engineering class, Zim turned to Dib, abandoning all attention he had focused on the assignment the two of them had just finished and turning it completely to Dib. Unsurprisingly, the request that he had for him was strange, but it still wasn’t something he had anticipated coming from the Invader. 

“You want  _ my _ help in math?”

“Yes,” Zim admitted begrudgingly, “I have been informed that you are quite helpful in that particular subject and that I should come to you, should the need arise.”

Dib squinted at the alien, not quite sure what the other was getting at, “You  _ need _ help? In  _ math _ ? Aren’t you from some crazy, highly-advanced race of alien technicians and fighters?”

“Are you willing to help me or not, Dib-Worm?” Zim snapped, irritably, “if you’re just going to question me, I’ll take my business elsewhere.”

Before Zim could storm away, though, Dib spoke up, “Wait- I’ll help you.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Dib nodded, “But I need something in return. I don’t tutor for free.”

“What is it that you want?” Zim sounded dubious. 

“Show me some of your technology.” 

“You… just want to see Irken tech?”

“Yes.”

“Really? That’s  _ all  _ you want?” Zim seemed taken aback that Dib was requesting something so minimal- so harmless to Zim and his cause. 

“Yep. Is it so strange for someone who’s interested in space, aliens, and technology to learn more about those things?”

Zim couldn’t argue with that, “I suppose not.”

“Then is it a deal?” Dib had a small smile playing across his features and Zim was sure that there was something devious behind it, but couldn’t tell what it was. 

Whatever; he could handle anything the human threw at him.

“Deal.”

The two of them shook one another’s hands before parting ways. 

Dib couldn’t stop himself from breaking into a full-on grin as the alien retreated, heading to whatever class he had next. 

Zim was a  _ fool _ if he thought that Dib wasn’t going to find a way to take samples of the technology he had and use it against him. One way or another, he was going to find a way for this little arrangement of theirs to benefit him far more than it benefitted Zim- he always did.

~~~

Dib and Zim had quite a bit of difficulty deciding how they were going to go about the agreement they had made. Both of them completely expected the other person to take advantage of them or attempt to get out of their side of the bargain. To avoid this, they decided that, the best way for them to go about it was for Zim to bring some Irken tech along, show Dib that he had it just to prove that he had kept his word, Dib would “tutor” him- which he would be very vocal about throughout the day, just to drive it home- and then Zim would explain how the technology actually worked. It seemed like a fair exchange for the two of them. 

Thus, once the school day was finally finished, Zim and Dib met one another in the classroom that dib usually used for tutoring after school. It was one of the few rooms that was never locked after hours and was a large, quiet class with decent lighting streaming in through the big windows. Only two other people were in the place, working on a paper together, leaving Dib and Zim with a decent area for their studies. 

Zim and Dib sat in the corner furthest away from the other people, pushing two of the desks together so that they could sit across from one another as they worked. 

“So,” Dib began, voice low and quiet so as to not disturb the other people, “What did you bring?”

Zim didn’t bother trying to put it off any longer. After checking to ensure that the other’s in the room weren’t paying them any attention, he reached into his pak and removed something from it. What he pulled out was a small, strange device that looked somewhat like a miniature power drill. 

“What  _ is _ that?” Dib asked, squinting. Before he could reach for it, though, Zim snatched it back and returned it to its place in his pak. 

“We had a deal, Dib-Beast.”

“Okay, okay,” Dib rolled his eyes but reached into his backpack to dig out his Abstract Algebra folder and notebook nonetheless, “I still don’t see why you need my help with this.”

“I simply need some assistance reviewing the content, Stinky, don’t let it get to you  _ gargantuan  _ head.”

Dib glared at that, “If you want my help, don’t make fun of me while I’m trying to give it to you,  _ Alien Freak _ .”

“ _ Fine _ ,” Zim relented, “Now, explain the latest chapter or whatever.”

“Okay, so, what we’ve been focusing on recently is rings- that’s what most of the others have been having a hard time with.”

Zim nodded, though he wasn’t truly paying attention as he wasn’t really struggling in the class.

“So, rings are just sets of elements that you can multiply, add, or subtract. Since division isn’t always possible with them and multiplication isn’t always commutative, they’re essentially used for generalized things like matrices...” 

As Dib continued talking, Zim checked out, for the most part, only tuning back in when Dib called him back to attention, sounding rather annoyed that the alien wasn’t listening very closely.

“Listen, I’m assuming that you don’t  _ actually _ need my help with this and this is just part of your weird plot for world domination in some way or another, so why don’t we just do the homework instead of wasting our time like this?”

Zim hummed slightly. It was true: he  _ did _ understand the material and, since he was only doing this to make himself seem more normal and human, there was really no need for Dib to continue trying to explain things to him as though he were just another one of his idiotic, plebian peers. Besides, doing homework with one’s tutor didn’t seem like much of a stretch from what would normally happen, so Zim saw no harm in doing so. As long as people knew he had done this- which, many of them already did- it didn’t matter what they spent their time doing in this classroom. All that mattered was, whatever they did, they did it together. 

“Alright.”

“You do the first half and I do the last half?” Dib suggested as he flipped to a fresh page in a separate notebook that he used for assignments in that class, “That way we can get through this shit quicker.”

While Zim certainly didn’t need Dib’s help with the assignment, it would save him precious time for the Dib to do half of it for him, so Zim agreed and, within fifteen minutes, the two of them were able to complete the assignment (and only a little bit of the time was spent arguing over answers). 

“So, are we done, Space Boy?” Dib didn’t wait for Zim’s answer before he began packing up his belongings.

“We have been here for a sufficient amount of time, yes.”

With a roll of his eyes, Dib slung his heavy backpack over his shoulders, “Then let’s go.”

Zim didn’t argue, simply grabbing his own things and standing to leave with the human. They exchanged no words until they were completely out of the classroom and down the hallway. 

“So, what was that thing that you showed me?”

“Ah, this,” Zim removed the device from his pak once more, holding it up for Dib to see, but not allowing him to touch it, “This is a part of Computer and is what Irken’s use to root their bases on our assigned planets overnight.”

Dib immediately dropped all visible resentment he had for Zim, focusing completely on the strange device in front of him. His eyes were slightly narrowed and glittered intensely as he fixed it with a gaze that made it seem as though he were trying to break it down and understand it just with his eyes. It was almost endearing how riveted Dib seemed over just a simple piece of technology. “How does it work?”

“The drill at the end digs into the ground and embeds itself there. Computer is directly attached to it when it is in use, sending it information on how to construct the base to make it appear as though it is a normal home for whatever planet you are on at the time.” Zim left out a few important details, but he wasn’t too worried about hiding the truth from Dib completely. He already knew quite a bit about Zim and Irkens in general, so what harm could this extra information do?

Dib tore his eyes from the machinery somewhat reluctantly, meeting Zim’s eyes, “You keep referring to your computer like it’s a person. Why?”

Zim pocketed the device once more, “I never said I’d answer any other questions you had about Irkens just because you helped me. That wasn’t part of the deal.” Zim turned, ready to head back to his base. 

“Wait!” Dib grabbed the sleeve of Zim’s school uniform and tugged him back over to him, “Will you tell me if I tutor you again later?”

Zim grinned, a new plan already forming in his head, “Yes, of course.”

~~~

That night, after finishing all of his schoolwork, Dib pulled his Zim notebook from his backpack once more. This time, aside from regular logs of strange shit that Zim did, Dib was able to include information about the new device Zim had shown him. He carefully drew out the piece of tech, recreating as much as he could remember from earlier that day. All around the drawing, Dib wrote notes about what Zim had said about it alongside random thoughts and theories Dib had about it himself (colour coded, obviously). 

It was just one page of Irken technology for now, but, if he could continue this little “tutoring” thing with Zim, that would quickly change. Dib knew that there must be  _ something _ Zim was getting out of the situation, otherwise, he wouldn’t have proposed it, but Dib didn’t let that worry him too much. What he was gaining from the experience was far more important than his worry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched a video on rings in abstract algebra and found worksheets regarding it online for this chapter because I am a geometry person, not an algebra one. 
> 
> Also, I gave Dib two notebooks for his maths class because I sometimes have two notebooks for my maths classes- one for notes and one for homework so I can look at both at once.


	5. Break

As promised, Dib and Zim continued to meet one another every once in a while after school whenever neither of them was busy. Most of the time, Dib didn’t actually tutor Zim since the Invader didn’t truly need it. Instead, they just did their homework together, working in tandem to get through all of it quickly. Afterwards, Zim would tell Dib some new information about Irkens, their culture, or their technology which Dib would then, unbeknownst to Zim, record into his journal. They both got something out of the situation- Dib with information and Zim with the invisibility cloak of normalcy that came with being “tutored” by Dib. Overall, things were going incredibly well between the two of them and they were becoming far less violent towards one another due to their arrangement. 

That is, until Zim made the bright decision to propose something new. 

He had had the idea long before he even mentioned it, the thought coming to mind not long after their first meeting with the other. He held back, though, waiting several weeks to ensure that Dib wouldn’t get scared away and that he would agree once Zim made the suggestion. 

“Dib, I have a new proposition to make.”

Dib raised an eyebrow at that, looking sceptical already. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like whatever he had to say, “Shoot.”

“I will tell you  _ everything _ about Irkens. I will answer every single question you have about us and what we do. I’ll even protect you- give you full immunity when I take over the world-”

“ _ If _ you take over the world,” Dib corrected, “Which you won’t.”

Zim sighed, not pushing it so as to avoid upsetting Dib, “My point is, I will show you  _ everything _ you have ever wanted to know about space, aliens, and my race. I will show you things beyond the reaches of your imagination and I will make sure that you have everything you have ever wanted from the world if you just agree.”

“What do you want in return?”

“It isn’t much- it’s something so small, you’ll hardly be giving up anything.”

“ _ Zim _ .”

“Stop fighting me. Stop getting in my way and trying to prevent me from taking over the world. It’s  _ useless _ and, if once you stop, I will make it worth your while.”

Dib blinked, eyes widening as he stepped away from Zim, “What? You actually believe I’m going to just stand back and  _ let _ you take over the world just because of some empty promises?!”

“My promises are not empty! I never go back on my word.”

“Bullshit!” Dib snapped, “I’m not going to let you destroy everything and turn us into your weird little alien pets just because you  _ say _ you’ll help me if I do so. No way!”

“Think about my offer, Dib-Thing! It is a fantastic one and you will regret not taking it once I come to rule over this ball of dirt.”

Dib didn’t bother trying to talk to the Irken. Instead, he stepped forward, roughly shoving Zim so that he would fall back into the rows of lockers behind them, sprinting away once the alien was down, quickly enough to avoid a fight. 

He was angry, of course- furious even- that Zim had even  _ suggested _ such a thing. He couldn’t believe that the alien thought that he would be so easily swayed. DIb wasn’t like his peers. He wasn’t an idiot and he wasn’t easily manipulated by his own fears and ambitions. More than that fury, though, Dib was  _ scared _ . Scared that he had let himself get so close to the alien for even a few week’s time. Scared that Zim might be getting into his head if he was able to create peace between the two of them, if only for a short amount of time. Most of all, though, he was terrified that Zim’s threat had some sort of power behind it- that the alien actually  _ did _ have a plan and that he had just been biding his time during the weeks of moderate peacefulness between the two of them. 

Dib ran almost the entire way back home, to irritated with himself and with Zim to bother slowing down. He was far too lost in his own thoughts and aggravation to change pace as he went and ended up nearly winded by the time he got home 

Instead of heading to his bedroom, Dib slumped into a chair at the dining table, dumping his backpack on the floor in front of him as he buried his face in his hands. 

_ Calm down, Dib. You’ll be fine, you’re overreacting. _

After several deep breaths, Dib calmed himself down fully. While Zim was powerful, he was far too much of an idiot to have anything dangerous planned and he was too proud to just sit and wait for the perfect time to act on his desires. He had been bluffing when he said that. The lull in their fights had been just for Zim to give himself a break- nothing more. It didn’t  _ mean _ anything. 

Dib sighed. Even if that was the case, Dib couldn’t remain docile and let Zim think that his words had gotten to him or that he was considering the offer. He had let himself get too comfortable around the alien and that was going to stop  _ today _ . 

Finally, Dib rose and headed to his bedroom to leaf through his journal on Zim. There were still several blank pages or pages where he had written very little of interest. Regardless, there was plenty of material in there. Tomorrow, he would go to the board for the school paper and show them everything he had discovered. There was too much evidence for them to stand by and ignore it. 

~~~

“What do you  _ mean _ there’s nothing you can do with any of this?” Dib snapped, crossing his arms across his chest petulantly. 

The next morning, Dib met Keef and the others on the board of the school newspaper to discuss everything with them, meeting in the newsroom before the first bell rang. He showed them the journal he had compiled of everything he had learned about Zim- quotes, pictures, and diagrams included- and gave them several minutes to gather around their table and look through everything. 

Unlike what DIb had anticipated, they weren’t impressed. 

“None of this is really…  _ proof _ , Dib, most of this is just hearsay,” one girl explained carefully, “The pictures are too blurry to make out much and, while the diagrams and stuff are really helpful, they don’t  _ prove _ anything. They could just as easily be… pieces of fiction.”

“You think I’m  _ lying _ about this?” Dib was taken aback by how little they  _ cared _ about the entire ordeal, “Have you  _ seen _ Zim? His skin is green, he had no nose, no ears, no eyebrows-”

“Zim is a good guy, Dib!” Keef jumped to the alien’s defence. 

“Oh, so just because he talked to you for ten minutes, you think he’s a good person?”

“He  _ is _ a good person,” Keef insisted. 

Dib scoffed, looked over to the others, “Surely you guys don’t agree.”

“Even if he is an alien, we can’t put stuff like that in the paper- especially with this loose of evidence,” the first girl spoke again, “If you can find something more concrete, we’ll take it, but we just… can’t put it in with just this.”

Dib clenched his jaw but took a deep breath nonetheless, calming himself, “You want something more real? I can do that.”

He took his notebook once more, stuffing it in his backpack somewhat aggressively, and headed off to class. He had a lot of brainstorming to do. 

~~~

The majority of Dib’s classes barely held his attention that day, but he managed to hold it together, for the most part, being able to pick up on the majority of the important information that was thrown their way. There was something about the library being closed for the day that DIb barely registered, a test that would be the next day (he wasn’t worried about it in the least), and some sort of big, competitive project for maths. 

Once he got to Chemical Engineering, though, he almost completely zoned out, the mere reminder of Zim sitting next to him forcing him to brainstorm. 

Throughout their class, Dib half-heartedly took notes on what the teacher was saying, though his mind wasn’t in the classroom. Instead, he focusing far more on what he could do to definitively prove what Zim was. A DNA sample didn’t seem like a terrible idea, but he clearly couldn’t gather something like hair, since what he wore on his head was obviously synthetic, and gathering something else like his saliva or blood would be far more difficult. Zim didn’t really carry much alien technology on his that Dib would be able to easily snatch. The only thing he brought with him everywhere that Dib knew of was his pak, and, considering the fact that it was attached to him somehow, getting that was out of the question. 

Dib sighed deeply, letting his eyes trail away from his page and out the window of the classroom. Grey clouds hung heavy in the dark sky, mimicking Dib’s mood perfectly. It wasn’t long before the clouds burst, sending large droplets of liquid gems falling down to the earth. The sound of rain calmed Dib, but he didn’t particularly enjoy being out in the rain- he hated getting wet since it would always make it impossible to see with his glasses. 

As the rain began, Dib could physically  _ feel _ Zim perk up and he diverted his attention to the other person. 

Zim was staring intently out the window, deeply fixated on the small rainstorm that was beginning just outside their building. His head was tilted to one side quizzically and his eyes were slightly squinted as though he were trying his hardest to calculate some strange equation that he had never seen before. 

“What?” Dib questioned, “Never seen rain before, Space Boy?”

Zim snapped out of, glaring at Dib stubbornly, “Of  _ course _ I’m familiar with this… rain thing. It happens all the time.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Dib furrowed his eyebrows, pretending to be just as stricken as Zim was, “It only happens once or twice a year, Zim. I don’t know what part of Earth you came from, but this is quite rare.”

“I- uh,” Zim’s eyes widened for a moment, glancing over to the others in the class to ensure that they weren’t listening in and hadn’t heard his slip-up. 

“I’m dicking with you, you insect,” Dib rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the teacher to disengage. 

Zim continued to just stare out the window, watching the rain. It irritated Dib, the feeling of Zim’s eyes boring down on him made his skin crawl and distracted him from what he was attempting to focus on, even if the alien was staring part him rather than at him. 

To his utter delight, though, Mrs. Summers  _ did _ call Zim out, targeting him to answer a question since he hadn’t been paying attention to the class. Dib couldn’t help but smirk at the alien beside him as he tried to answer the question he hadn’t even heard. 

At least the last moments of this class would be filled with Zim awkwardly suffering in front of their peers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this is kind of all over the place, but it has a plot, I swear, I'm just getting through the set-up for the interesting stuff.
> 
> I apologize deeply for this story being a bit... messy to say the least.


	6. Robo-Dog

If Zim was being honest, he was… disappointed that Dib turned him down on his offer the other day. He had thought that it was a really good offer and Dib was an  _ idiot  _ for not seeing it as such and agreeing. It would have put the two of them safely at the top of the world. Now, though, he would have to continue the dynamic they currently had of constant bickering and violent back-and-forth. The Dib could be  _ such  _ a hindrance, sometimes. It would be so much  _ easier _ if Dib would just relent on join Zim- he would be a fantastic ally (even if Zim didn’t  _ need  _ one). 

Zim sighed, squinting out the window of his last hour’s class. The “rain”, as Dib had called it, had yet to let up at all and Zim still couldn’t quite tell what it was. Although he had gathered that it was common and somewhat calming- or even exciting- to several of his peers, he still didn’t know the exact nature of it from a scientific standpoint. 

By the time school was finally out, the storm was still consistent, the strangely shimmering droplets tumbling from the sky to splatter to the ground in an erratic pattern that Zim couldn’t quite figure out despite how long he had been listening to it.

While several of his peers sprinted from the school so that they could quickly make their way home or lingered for a few moments under the heavy spray of sky liquid. There was only one person that he didn’t see out there with the others (or, more accurately, only one person that he actually  _ cared _ about finding and couldn’t do so): Dib Membrane. 

“Scared of the rain,  _ Bug _ ?”

Zim whirled around to face the source of the voice, “I am certainly  _ not _ , Dib-Thing. The Almighty  _ Zim _ does not fear something so simple and non-threatening as  _ rain _ .”

“Yeah, sure,” the corner of DIb’s lip quirked up into a smirk, “Then why don’t you go out into the rain and prove it?”

“Why should I listen to you?” Zim snapped. He had never been one to step back from a challenge, though, so he cautiously stepped out into the downpour. 

It took mere seconds for the sensation of Zim’s very flesh burning and the scent of singed skin to fully register to the Irken and over-power his petulant desire to prove Dib wrong. Zim had faced many things throughout his life working and training under the Irken Armada. He had been pushed to his limits time and time again out there and never once had he broken. This pain, though, was a new, strange type of pain that caught him so off-guard that he couldn’t help but tense up, eyes widening with shock. 

He didn’t stick around long enough for Dib to gloat, though this wasn’t because Zim was running away specifically to avoid Dib’s words. No, he ran because the pain made him feel as though his flesh would melt away completely if he stayed under the spray for a second longer. He had to get to his house quickly so he could escape the sensation and, in doing so, he managed to escape whatever words Dib had been planning to hurl at him. 

~~~

A grin spread across Dib’s face, excitement about the fact that he could easily follow Zim to his base with the alien so completely distracted mingling with glee over the alien’s physical reaction to the rain. 

Dib didn’t hesitate to break into a sprint, hurrying after Zim. There was very little that he had to do to stay out of Zim’s sight, just lagging behind him by several feet as the alien ran like a madman through the streets. The sounds of rain pummeling the pavement, Zim screams, and his now soaked converse slapping against the wet asphalt were the only sounds that filled Dib’s ears. He completely threw caution to the wind as he trailed the alien, not bothering to worry about getting home or how wet his clothes were or the fact that Zim could be leading him into a trap just as easily as Dib could be leading Zim into one. All that mattered was the fact that Dib had a chance- a chance was  _ all _ he needed. 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long for Dib to reach Zim’s base- though the speed of their excursion might have had more to do with that than proximity. The building stuck out like a sore thumb, far skinnier than the other houses and made of bright, mismatched colours. With the combination of the intensity of the colouration of the exterior and the strange configuration of the house, Dib found it somewhat akin to something that a child would build out of blocks while playing. 

He couldn’t believe that no one else found the small house odd.

Nonetheless, Dib peered in through one of the front windows, watching Zim carefully as he disappeared into another room of the house. Once he was certain that the alien was far enough away for him to enter without too much suspicion, he tried the doorknob. 

Easily, the door opened at his touch and Dib smiled. He’d had a feeling that Zim had been too preoccupied to lock the door behind him properly. 

Dib stepped into the barren household as silently as he possible could, cautiously closing the door behind him completely as his eyes scanned over the room he found himself in. 

What Dib presumed to be the living room was strange and the furniture sparse. Instead of wood or carpet, there was red and orange tile beneath Dib’s feet and the walls were plastered with wallpaper of space-ship patterns and pale colours. What stood out to Dib the most, though, was the tangle of thick, scarlet wires and tubes hanging from the ceiling like a spider’s web. 

Immediately, Dib pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the house before tucking it away once more. He knew that the pictures wouldn’t be good enough, but they were still beneficial to have, just in case. More importantly, though, Dib had to find something  _ good _ and he had to do so fast. He wasn’t sure where Zim was in the base or how long it would take before Zim came back into the room Dib was currently in. He had to work quickly. 

Dib stuck mainly to the living room and kitchen area once he confirmed that both of those rooms were clear. He dug around everything and snapped several pictures, but there wasn’t anything interesting that he could take along with him that would actually work to prove anything to the others. The most damning evidence against Zim being human was the strange wires of the ceiling and the toilet in the middle of the kitchen, but even those things didn’t seem helpful in the least and it wasn’t like he could take any of them along with him as proof. 

Considering how barren each of the rooms was, there wasn’t much for him to inspect- let alone bring back with him. Despite his frantic search of the room, there was very little that he found of any interest. 

That is, until he stumbled across another strange creature. 

It was a small, fluffy dog with massive eyes, but it was obvious to anyone who saw it that it wasn’t a normal dog by any means. Not only was it green, but it appeared to be completely sewn together and a large, silver zipper ran down its centre. 

“HELLO!”

Dib winced at the loud noise, “Shh!”

“Shhhh!” The creature echoed, excitement in its voice. 

“What-” Dib crouched down to be eye-level with the dog, tilting his head to get a good look at it, inspecting it closely, “What  _ are _ you?”

“I’m GIR!” It waved both of its arms wildly, “I’m GIR, who are you? Why is your head so  _ big _ ? Why  _ is _ your head so big?”

Dib groaned slightly at that last question the creature asked. “My head isn’t  _ that _ big,” he grumbled in defence of himself, “And what are you?” What’s a...  _ GIR _ ?”

“I dunno,” it shrugged. 

“Are… some kind of alien?”

“Are  _ you _ some kind of alien?” GIR asked, smushing its paw against Dib’s face in what he could only assume to be it’s best attempt at a nose-boop. 

Against his face, Dib could feel that the paws of the creature were incredibly soft and structured similar to a dog’s, but it felt nothing like a real dog. Instead, it felt like some sort of stuffed toy- at least on the outside. The fur felt like a plushie, but there was definitely some sort of hard bone structure beneath. 

“Are you a robot?”

“Yep! What are  _ you _ ?”

“I’m… a human. My name is Dib,” he admitted, somewhat reluctant to tell the creature anything about himself, “Do you Work for Zim?”

“Zim? That’s my Master!” GIR chirped, tail wagging, “You’re the Dib he always talks about.”

“Yes, I’m-” DIb blinked, “Zim talks about me?”

“Yup! He’s sad that you didn’t take his deal. Says you would have made a goood team.”

Dib scrunched up his face, “We could  _ never  _ be a real team.”

“And he thinks it’s cool how excited you get over Irken stuffs!” GIR gesticulated wildly as he spoke, “He’s going to be so excited that you’re here!”

“Wait!” Dib grabbed the little dog by the shoulders before he could walk away, “You can’t tell Zim. It had to be a secret that I came here, okay?”

GIR let out a little grunt of affirmation and nodded, though Dib could see in his eyes that the request didn’t fully register for GIR. 

Dib sighed, “Can you show me anything? Something that Zim’s working on?”

“You wanna see what Master’s working on?”

“Yeah.”

“You wanna see what we’re working on?!”

“Uh… yes.”

“C’mon!” GIR grabbed one of Dib’s hands in both of his tiny, velvety paws and began dragging him back towards the kitchen area that Dib had seen earlier. 

_ What could they possibly be working on in there? _

GIR leapt up onto one of the chairs at the table and unzipped his disguise slightly, letting the head fall back like the hood of a sweatshirt to reveal the robotic form beneath. He hummed as he began grabbing seemingly random things from around the room- primarily foodstuffs and various pieces of kitchenware. 

“What exactly is it that you’re working on, again?”

“I’m making waffles!”

Dib face-palmed. This  _ really _ wasn’t going as well as he had hoped and it was clear that the little robot wasn’t going to be a beacon of helpfulness and insight to the inner-workings of Zim’s plans. 

“GIR! Where is the-” 

Dib couldn’t hear the rest of the question that the alien was shouting over the sudden rush of blood in his ears. The voice was distant but drawing near and he didn’t have much time. 

Dib turned his head left and right, eyes flickering across the room frantically as he searched for something- anything- that he could use as some sort of evidence. It didn’t matter what it was, at this point, he just needed  _ something _ . 

Finally, his eyes landed on the cheerfully mixing robot sitting before him and he made a spur-of-the-moment decision. 

Dib seized GIR and began sprinting towards the front door and away from Zim’s voice, “Looks like you’re coming with me, evil little robot.”

GIR had no qualms with that, simply flipping up the hood of his disguise to full hide himself once more, blocking out the rain, “Where are we going?”

“We are going to prove that Zim is an alien.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I've never really written for GIR before? I apologize if I didn't get his speech patterns right.


	7. Belief

Dib struggled to balance the squirming robot in his arms and open the door to the school at the same time. Instead of GIR being worried about Dib up and taking him from his home suddenly- which Dib was just beginning to think about how sketchy that was- the small robot seemed to just want out of Dib’s arms so he could explore the school. 

Dib had quite a strange life. 

“GIR, stay still-”

“I wanna see the sparkles!”

“The sparkles-?” Dib couldn’t discern half of the things the robot said. 

GIR frantically waved his paw in the direction of the cabinet full of the various trophies and awards that the school and its students had won over the years. Many of them were quite beautiful and Dib was even on the Quizbowl team that had won two of the trophies in the cabinet, but this was far from the perfect time for Dib to give the creature a tour of the school and its various winnings. They were crunched for time. 

“Not right now, GIR.”

GIR let out a loud, high-pitched whine that sounded somewhat like a puppy, but mostly like a child about to throw a temper tantrum. Dib didn’t really have much experience with kids, but he’d had enough experience with Gaz as a kid to know that it was best to avoid  _ that _ at all costs. 

“We can come back and look at everything later, I promise,” Dib reassured, “We just have to do something  _ really _ quick, first. Okay.”

GIR’s ears drooped, but he agreed and stopped attempting to squirm out of Dib’s grasp as fiercely as he had been previously. 

Dib made his way to the room for the school paper as quickly as he could, almost slipping and falling as his drenched shoes squeaked over the smooth tile floor. He was careful not to completely crash to the floor, though, not only worried about hurting himself by doing so but worried about breaking apart the robot in his arms as well.

Sharply rounding the corner, Dib saw the open door to the newsroom, Keef standing in the doorway. 

Dib could just barely hear Keef mutter, “Not again” but ignored his words completely. 

He skidded to a halt before the door and met the tired eyes of the ginger in front of him, “I have more to show. I have  _ real _ evidence that I can show to you.”

“I’m evidence!” GIR piped up, tail wagging as he spoke. 

A look of absolute confusion crossed Keef’s face and he tilted his head, squinting, “What…  _ what _ ?”

Dib pushed his way into the classroom to see the others within. Two other students were in the room as well as Mrs. Valentine, the three people surrounding a laptop with what DIb assumed to be the draft of the paper for tomorrow. They all looked up to see Dib once he entered the room, though. 

Unlike how all of the students of the room groaned quietly the moment that they saw Dib enter, Mrs. Valentine smiled softly at him, “Dib Membrane. What a pleasant surprise.”

“Hi, Mrs. Valentine,” Dib attempted to smile politely but the dog squirming in his arms made it difficult for him to smile without it seeming strained. 

She gave the dog a weird look before meeting his eyes once more, “You said you had something?”

“I do.”

“Perfect timing. I have to go make copies of an article, so you can discuss that with our team, here, and fill me in on the story when I return.” 

One of the girls at the table- Beck, Dib remembered her name was- opened her mouth to protest, but Mrs. Valentine was out of the classroom before she had time to voice her disapproval. 

“ _ This _ is GIR,” Dib held up the robot for the others to see, “He’s Zim’s “dog”.”

“HI THERE!” GIR squealed, kicking his legs in the air with wild excitement. 

The sight of him piqued their interests slightly and they gathered around Dib to peer quizzically at the dog, though he could tell that they  _ really _ didn’t want to be there with him of all people. 

“He… speaks?” Beck asked.

“I do!” GIR confirmed, “I can talk a lot. I know a lot of words!”

“ _ Yes _ . He’s green and he talks. Doesn’t that seem a little weird to you?” Dib questioned, “The fact that Zim’s dog just so happens to look completely unlike actual animals on this planet?”

“I mean…” Keef began, “Zim’s skin is green too, and they  _ are _ family.”

Dib narrowed his eyes, “...are you insinuating that this evil dog robot and Zim are  _ genetically  _ related?”

“Well, no-” Keef was visibly wracking his brain for a reasonable explanation so he could defend the stupid alien. 

Beck cut Keef off, saving them all from having to deal with whatever idiocy he was about to spout off, “They are  _ definitely  _ not genetically related, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reasonable explanation to all of this.”

“Like  _ what _ ?” DIb practically hissed. 

“Well,” Beck reached forward to unzip the robot’s disguise, exposing some of the metal frame before him, “This is a machine, right? Zim or his family probably made a robotic dog because they couldn’t take care of a real dog or something and gave him the ability to speak because, well, who wouldn’t want to talk to their dog?”

“Have you seen any technology this advanced before?” Dib demanded. 

“No, but I specialize in writing and math, not technology. Besides, I haven’t seen even half of the things your dad has invented before because he creates such crazy and advanced stuff! Zim could be in the same situation.”

“But he  _ isn’t _ !” Dib snapped, “How can you guys not see that Zim is an alien?!”

“He’s a good person and you’re just going out of your way to slander him because he’s as good as you are!” Keef defended. 

“He is  _ not _ just as-”

“It doesn’t fucking  _ matter _ what or who Zim is!” Beck cut in, “We have more important things to focus on! This is our Junior year, Dib, this year is what makes or breaks our  _ entire _ futures. We have to focus on school and extra-circulars so we look good to colleges and universities. We don’t have  _ time _ for this!”

“He is trying to take over the world!” Dib was completely taken aback, “Do you really think that fucking  _ school _ is more important than the fate of our entire world?! We could be in serious danger because of him.”

“No we  _ aren’t _ ,” Beck snapped, “You’re keeping him far too busy for him to actually do anything if that’s even what he wants to do.”

Before Dib could defend himself further, he heard Mrs. Valentine return to the room. “So?” She asked, “Do we have a story?”

“No,” Beck glared at Dib, “But we  _ do _ have a psychotic, freakish,  _ thief _ .”

Mrs. Valentine blinked, shocked by her words, “Excuse me-?”

“Dib stole Zim’s dog to try and prove something to us.”

Dib glared, “You  _ know _ why I-”

“Dib?” Mrs. valentine cut in, “Is that true?”

“Well- technically, but-”

“Dib, please come with me. We need to talk for a moment.”

“Oooh, where are we goin’?” GIR spoke for the first time since they started fighting and DIb was honestly shocked that he hadn’t said anything to cut into the conversation before then. 

Mrs. Valentine did a double-take as she heard the robot speak. 

Before Dib could explain, Keef spoke up, “That’s a project of Zim’s. Dib stole it from his.”

Dib whirled around to face Keef, glaring at him with a burning hatred that the red-hear returned easily, “Why are you going against me all of a sudden? I have done  _ nothing _ but help you!”

“Dib-” Mrs. Valentine tried-”

“You will  _ fail _ your classes without me.”

“I don’t  _ need _ you, Dib,” Keef clenched his hands into fists, “Not any more.  _ None  _ of us do.”

Dib was on the verge of using the metallic dog in his arms as a battering ram to break Keef’s nose for everything he’d put Dib through, but Mrs. Valentine stepped in before he could. 

“DIB!” She raised her voice to be heard over the chaos of the bickering students, “Come with me.”

Dib clenched his jaw and did as he was told. 

~~~

Zim exited the elevator disguised as a toilet and entered the kitchen, glaring around the room as he searched for his SIR unit. Despite knowing for a  _ fact _ that he had heard the robot up there mere moments ago, he was nowhere to be seen.

“GIR? Where  _ are _ you?”

Zim noticed the beginnings of a waffle mix, the supplies to make the recipe spread across the kitchen table in complete disorder as though GIR had abandoned the task in the middle of doing it. It wasn’t too odd for the robot to do such things, so Zim’s only reaction to the mess before him was mild disgust. 

With a sigh, he began scouring the upper level of the house. As he crouched down to peer under the couch, wondering if the SIR unit was attempting to play a game with him, he asked Computer if he knew what was up. 

“Computer! Where is GIR?”

Computer whirred to life within moments of being asked the question, “He left about three minutes ago with the human.”

Zim shot up from where he was partially beneath the couch, bashing the back of his head against the underside of the piece of furniture, “ _ WHAT? _ ” 

“He left with about three minutes ago with-”

“I  _ heard you _ the first time,” Zim snapped, “What human? How did it get in?”

“I didn’t exactly ask it what its name was,” Computer grumbled, “He had stupid hair and a trench coat.”

Zim narrowed his eyes, “ _ Dib _ .”

The two of them had had an incredibly competitive and violent relationship but he had never expected the human to be so cruel and brash as to steal  _ GIR _ . What did the human plan on doing to him? Would Dib demand some sort of ransom in exchange for his robot? Would he dismantle or torture him?

Zim would never openly admit that he cared about the robot in any way shape or form, but that didn’t change the fact that GIR held an important part of his life- GIR was his family, in a way, and he would be damned if Dib did anything to hurt him.

The alien dug out his contact lenses, wig, and a large coat with a hood, tugging on the disguise and the protection so he could go out and face the human. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I might not get a chapter out for a few days because I've been busy the past few days and I won't be home for the majority of tomorrow.   
> Also me: Hold my tea, we're doing this NOW.
> 
> So, yes, I had motivation to write, but I'm tired and a bit "busy", so I didn't have as much time to edit and such as I would have liked. There... very well may be grammatical or spelling errors and, if there are, I would like to sincerely apologize for them, however, I still had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope that you guys enjoy it, nonetheless.


	8. Clouded Judgement

Dib followed Mrs. Valentine into her office, nervously holding onto the small robot in his arms. GIR had no qualms with that, merely resting his chin on Dib’s shoulder in what Dib assumed was an attempt at being gentle and supportive. 

Nervously, Dib sat down in the chair across from her desk. He had never really gotten in trouble at school- always going above and beyond in his classes and never getting caught for the things he did there. Considering the fact that he had never so much as been called down to a teacher’s office in regards to anything negative, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. 

As he sat down, Mrs. Valentine gave him the patronizing look that teachers gave misbehaving children in the shitty coming-of-age movies that Netflix was flooded with, folding her hands in front of herself in a way that told Dib they were about to have a  _ fun _ conversation. 

“Dib… you’re an amazing student-”

Just hearing the beginning of her speech made him huff slightly, already irritated with his situation. 

In response, GIR tilted his head, seemingly confused by the human’s actions, “Can you breathe? Are your lungs broken?” He clonked his head against Dib’s chest as if he were trying to listen to his breathing and see if he was okay. 

Dib couldn’t help but facepalm. 

Mrs. Valentine trailed off slightly as she noticed this, but shook it off for long enough for her to get her point across, “You’re a good student, Dib. You’re doing well in your classes and you clearly have a bright future, so why are you just now beginning to have these problems? You’ve never acted out the way you do now that Zim’s transferred here, and I just can’t see  _ why _ you’re targeting him like this.”

“I’m not just  _ targeting _ him-”

“Dib, the team has told me that you’ve been making these ridiculous alligations about Zim for  _ weeks _ .”

“Because I’m right!” Dib caught himself before he yelled at the teacher on the other side of the desk, lowering his voice to a tone that he could get away with while avoiding sounding disrespectful, “Mrs. Valentine, have you  _ seen _ the evidence? Zim’s skin is practically green, his speech patterns are completely different than anyone else’s, and he’s doing almost as well as I am in school without putting forth  _ any _ effort!”

Mrs. Valentine seemed completely unfazed, “Considering he built that impressive robot in your arms, I think he’s putting forth more effort than you give him credit for.”

Dib clenched his jaw and looked away, not meeting her eyes. Instead, he focused on the robot dog in his arms who was busying himself by playing with Dib’s necktie. 

“Dib…” she continued gently, “Why are you doing this?”

There was  _ so much _ that Dib wanted to say- that he was doing this to protect the world, to prove that he was right, to make his father proud, to show that he was  _ really _ worth something, to  _ finally _ allow himself to participate in something he had been interested in for years, finally chasing the dreams he had had for years. The teenager had a long list to explain the motivations behind his actions. He had so many reasons- so many things that he desperately wanted to say. Instead, he said none of it, knowing that being truthful would get him nowhere. 

“I… I don’t know.”

Mrs. Valentine frowned as though she could see through his facade, “Really?”

He nodded, still refusing to meet her eyes or elaborate.

She let out a soft sigh but didn’t press any further, “You know I’m going to have to take action about this, right?”

Dib levelly met her eyes but stubbornly remained silent.

“Dib, I’m going to have to call your father.”

He couldn’t help but smirk slightly at that. Membrane cared about school a great deal, that much was obvious, but he wasn’t exactly the most  _ present _ father to ever grace the face of the Earth. He took very little interest in him and Gaz’s lives and frequently wasn’t even home- usually tied up with work when he  _ was _ home. He doubted that even Mrs. Valentine would get a response if she tried to call.

She gave Dib a strange look in response to his smirk but picked up the phone and dialled the number for Dib’s home phone. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. 

After setting the phone back down, she closed her eyes, forehead creasing with deep thought. A long moment passed before she tried one more time, though it looked as though she had made up her mind by the time she picked up the phone for a final time.

“Listen,” Mrs. Valentine began once she realized that Professor Membrane really wasn’t going to pick up, “You’ve never done something like this before, so I’m letting you off easy. This isn’t going to be on your permanent record and what you’ve done to your classmate isn’t going to hurt your attempts to get into university.” Her eyes flicked down to look at Gir as she spoke. 

“Fantastic, thank you,” Dib tried to force some sort of gratefulness into his voice as he spoke, but it came out dry, “Can I go home, now?”

“Not so fast. You’re a good kid and I trust that this won’t be a problem in the future, but I’m not going to completely let you off the hook,” she grabbed a piece of paper and began writing on it, “I want you to see the school’s therapist.”

“You want me to do  _ what _ ?!”

“I know you don’t see it this way, but your actions- accusing your classmates of ridiculous things like this, slandering his name,  _ and _ supposedly stealing from him is a problem. You can’t do this, Dib.” She held the paper out to Dib, “I need you to work on this before it gets out of hand and becomes more of a problem for the both of you.”

Gritting his teeth so hard that he was certain his dental bill was raising as he did so, Dib took the paper. It was a sloppily written sticky-note with a room number, a time, and a name on it- Mr. Elliot.

“I’ll be contacting him and filling him in on the situation.”

“ _ Great _ ,” Dib muttered bitterly. 

Dib couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was trying to send him to a fucking psychologist just because he did something that  _ she _ couldn’t understand. Dib wasn’t crazy! He didn’t  _ need _ someone to pick his brain and “fix” him. He wasn’t  _ broken _ . 

“I want you to talk to him about whatever problems or crazy fantasies you’re having that lead to the things you’ve been doing and the conspiracies you’ve made.”

“I don’t  _ need _ a psychologist! I’m  _ fine _ !” 

“Clearly, that isn’t true.”

Dib set his jaw, “And what if I refuse to go?”

She sighed, leaning back in her chair, “If you don’t go, I’m going to have to give you a detention for what you’ve done- and that  _ will _ go on your permanent record.”

“This is  _ ridiculous _ ! I’m not some insane kid who’s making shit up, I’m right-”

“ _ Dib _ ,” She cut him off, “I know that you’re not crazy, I promise.”

Dib relaxed slightly at that.

“What I  _ do _ know is that you have a lot of pressure on you at the moment. It’s your junior year and you’re taking difficult classes. You’re doing well, from what I’ve heard, but I know how stressful it can be to do what you’re doing here- and I know that you must feel a lot of pressure to live up to your father’s name.”

Well, at least she got  _ that _ right.

“You’re going through a lot and I think it’s taking a toll on you- clouding your judgement.”

Dib took a deep breath and closed his eyes, giving up on trying to explain himself. She- just like  _ everybody else _ \- wasn’t going to open her eyes and look at the evidence right in front of her. She wasn’t going to believe him no matter what he did or said. It was best to just play along with the stupid game she was starting up with him so that he could avoid too much more of this conflict. 

“Yeah…” Dib’s voice was quiet as though he were reluctantly admitting something he had been trying to keep hidden out of pride rather than lying his way through a conversation to avoid getting in trouble, “I haven’t been sleeping well recently- I haven’t had the time too with all of my classes and school work.”

She nodded sagely. Stress and lack of sleep made way more sense to her than extraterrestrials and things she hadn’t seen before. 

“I think Mr. Elliot will help, alright? I need you to go and talk to him. Work through your problems and find ways to cope with the stress.”

Dib didn’t bother putting up a fight. He was lucky that is was one of the more chill teachers that had confronted him about this and he decided he shouldn’t push his luck any more than he already had, “Alright.”

“Good,” she smiled, “Now, what should we do about Zim’s robot friend?”

~~~

Dib was less than pleased with how the conversation with the news team had gone and, if he was being completely honest with himself, was deeply pissed off at the fact that no one gave him the time of day. 

He sighed deeply and looked at the robot in his arms- who was still struggling to get out and run around the school. Things may not have gone well, but, at the very least, he wasn’t in too much trouble. He supposed being the son of Professor membrane had some perks.

Despite not being in the mood, Dib was a man of his word and took GIR to look at the trophy case as he had promised, letting the little dog run up and down the hallway looking at everything that there was to see. Thankfully, the majority of the classrooms in the hall by the front door were locked from the end of the school day, so there wasn’t much damage for GIR to do as Dib trailed behind the robot with disinterest.

Zim wasn’t an idiot, so Dib assumed that it would only be a matter of time before Zim busted down the front doors of the academy and demanded his little minion back, so he didn’t bother to even leave the school. Instead, he just waited for the inevitable. 

Before Zim finally found them, though, GIR did everything he could to get up to trouble,  _ including  _ nearly topping the entire glass trophy case.

Dib had to watch GIR far more carefully than he had anticipated and ended up caving and just carrying the little robot everywhere that he wanted to go during his little adventure. That was better than having to deal with a robot made from highly advanced technology destroying his school, though, so Dib couldn’t really complain.

“Are you saaad?” GIR asked, going “boneless” in Dib’s arms and nearly falling to the ground in doing so. 

With a small huff, Dib leaned against the wall across from the door and sank down the floor, holding GIR to his chest, “Nope.”

“You’re lying,” Gir disagreed, putting his head against Dib’s chest.

Dib let out a small laugh at the cute show of affection, “Maybe a little.”

“Whyyyy? Why are you sad?” GIR continued before Dib could answer though, “Master would be sad if he knew  _ you  _ were sad.”

Dib furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side, “Wait, what? Why?”

“You’re the Dib-Friend!”

“I  _ think _ the word you’re looking for is “fiend”,” Dib chuckled. 

“Nope! Master worries about you.”

“Worries about my thwarting his plans, you mean,” Dib argued. 

GIR bonked his head against Dib’s chest once more, attempting to wrap his arms around Dib’s neck in an awkward hug, “He’s sad you didn’t take his offer. He doesn’t want to fight you.”

“Really?” Dib asked, “I… didn’t think he actually expected that to go well. I kind of assumed he just did that to throw me off… which worked, I guess.”

GIR shook his head, “He wants you on our side! You’re a friend!”

“I doubt it, but thanks, little buddy.” Dib awkwardly wrapped his arms around the small robot, returning the hug.

“It’s probably your big head.”

“What?”

“Smart thoughts,” GIR explained.

“...yeah, okay. Fair enough.” 

~~~

Just as Zim had suspected, Dib was inside the school, GIR in his arms. What he  _ didn’t _ expect, though, was the fact that Dib was sitting on the floor, still completely soaked from the rain, hugging GIR to his chest, and doing absolutely nothing harmful. 

Zim squinted at the sight before him, confused at what he was seeing. Why was Dib not attempting to do something diabolical? He wasn’t torturing GIR for information or picking him apart piece by piece to learn more about him or Irken technology. He wasn’t even being rude to the little robot- he was just cuddling with him and indulging him in a way that completely threw Zim through a loop. 

“Well,  _ Dib-Thing _ , I’ve finally found you.”

Dib’s entire demeanour changed as he noticed Zim. Standing up, he frowned at the Irken, “It took you long enough.”

“HELLO, MASTER!” GIR waved his hand- paw?- excitedly, clipping Dib in the face while doing so- it was shockingly painful.

Zim said nothing, only striding across the hall quickly and scooping the SIR unit into his arms as he glared at the human before him, “You  _ dare _ kidnap the Mighty Zim’s smeet?”

“Awww!” GIR grinned at the endearing term, but both of the teenagers were too intent on the beginning of their argument to take much notice.

“ _ Smeet _ ?” Dib asked, squinting at the term. 

“My Irken knowledge is none of your concern, Fool Boy!” Zim snapped. 

“Fine,” Dib held up his hands and took a step back, “You have your “smeet” back. Are you happy?”

Zim sneered, “I would be  _ happy _ if you quit attempting to thwart my plans with your own pathetic actions.”

“If your species is so superior, then why does it  _ matter _ if I get in your way?”

“Irkens  _ are _ superior!” Zim practically hissed, “And even if you stand no chance against  _ me _ \- the Almighty Zim- you are an absolute rakefire of a fustilarian.”

“...did you just use a fucking Shakespearian insult?”

“ _ Don’t _ question me.”

Dib looked as though he would continue arguing with Zim were he not so exhausted- Zim noted the slight bags underneath the human’s eyes and his slumped shoulders but brushed both off those off to worry about later. Right now, he had  _ no _ sympathy for the human.

Somewhat satisfied, Zim turned to leave. Before he could even get to the door, though, Dib spoke once more.

“GIR told me that you worry about me.” Zim could hear the smirk in his voice without even looking at him. 

Zim whirled around to snarl at the human, “I do  _ not _ worry about pathetic, disgusting little worms such as yourself,  _ Dib-Shit _ .”

“Yes you dooo!” GIR chirped. 

Zim scrunched up his face in distaste as Dib laughed, “You’re both terrible.”

“That’s not what GIR says you think.”

“Shut up before I remove your organs.”

“Aww, you want to kill me so you can donate my organs to people who need them? What a good samaritan.”

Zim was slightly surprised that Dib actually remembered that from their class together. He didn’t expect that from the human. Zim would be lying if he claimed that he didn’t find it strangely endearing that the Dib remembered something so trivial Zim had mentioned long ago- even if he  _ was _ just a disgusting worm baby.

“Who said I have to kill you to remove your organs?” Zim narrowed his eyes threateningly.

Dib gulped slightly at that and Zim couldn’t help but smile with pride.  _ Good. _

Silence swept over the two of them and they stood in the centre of the hallway for a long moment, just staring at one another. Thinking. 

“If we’re done here, I’m going to leave.” Dib turned to go. 

“Wait!” Zim snapped, getting the humans attention, “Er, thank you for not harming GIR… I would have had to kill you from that and it would be an incredibly inconvenient experience for everyone involved, so. Best you avoided that.”

Dib slowly nodded, “Of course.”

“If you weren’t going to hurt him, though, why  _ did _ you bring him here?”

Dib let out a deep sigh and leaned against the wall behind him, crossing his arms over his chest, “I had  _ hoped _ that GIR would be enough proof for them.”

“Ah,” Zim nodded, “I take it that didn’t go well?”

“Nu-uh,” GIR affirmed, “They don’t believe him.”

Zim relaxed slightly at that, glad that he didn’t have anything to worry about in that department. The look of utter disappointment on Dib’s face made the small “victory” feel far less sweet, though.

Zim idly ran his fingers through GIR’s fur, relieved to have him back safe and sound despite the fact that he was far from the obedient minion that Zim had expected when he received him, “Why do you continue to respect these people when they don’t give you the same courtesy?”

“Because I  _ have _ to.”

“But why? Out of loyalty? Fear? Longing?”

“Yes,” Dib sighed, though he didn’t elaborate upon his answer.

Zim rolled his eyes slightly at the lack of an answer. 

“They’re my  _ people _ , okay? This is my planet and I have to protect it, even if they all treat me like shit,” Dib explained bitterly, “Considering you’re some highly-respected soldier or explorer or whatever, you must understand that.”

“Yes, but  _ my _ people respect me and what I do for them,” Zim retorted. He wasn’t completely surer why he was trying to help the human considering what a pain he was- or perhaps he was doing it  _ because _ Dib was such a pain- but he kept talking, “Why not find another planet?”

“It doesn’t  _ work _ like that, Zim!”

“It  _ could _ .”

Dib glared, “I can’t just up and leave.”

“You could,” Zim argued, “You just won’t because you’re too stubborn. You’d rather stay on this revolting ball of dirt and waste away until the day I destroy it than do something that you  _ know _ would be beneficial to you.”

“You’re not still on about that deal, are you?” Dib groaned. 

“Of course not. I’m not pathetic enough to come crawling back after you’ve-”

“ _ Yes, _ he is,” GIR interrupted. 

Zim glared. 

“I’m not going to just give up because  _ some _ people are too stupid to believe me,” Dib insisted, though it sounded as though he were trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince his opponent, “They  _ will _ believe me. One day.”

“Sure,” Zim rolled his eyes, “Have fun with that.” He turned away, making his way towards the door, “But, if you ever come to your senses and realize that you will never succeed, you’ll know where to find me. I’d advise you to be quick, though. I won’t wait for you forever. I have more important things to deal with than you.”

Distantly, Zim could hear Dib kicking one of the lockers with an aggression that likely would have dented the flimsy metal. He didn’t turn to look back, though. Despite his curiosity and concerns about the human, he had a plan to go through with and he’d be damned if he let the little worm get into his mind and distract him from it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My computer has been giving me some difficulty so writing this chapter was a bit of a challenge. I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors.


	9. Deal

“What were you  _ thinking _ ?” 

Dib had known that, if his father heard the messages from Mrs. Valentine, he would be disappointed. He knew that his father would be upset with him and rant about his auctions and his “stupid interests” and how idiotic and disappointing Dib was to him. That’s why he planned on deleting the messages the moment he got home. 

That, however, didn’t work out the way Dib had intended and his father heard  _ everything _ despite Dib’s best attempts to keep things silent.

“Dib, you are  _ smarter _ than this. You aren’t a child any longer, you should know better than to chase these silly fantasies like this,” despite the high collar of his lab coat and the thick goggles Membrane always wore, Dib could see how his father’s eyebrows furrowed with distress and how his face crinkled with emotion, “I shouldn’t have to worry about you trying to prove that one of your fellow students is an  _ alien _ .”

Of  _ course _ his father would be more worried about Dib’s believing that Zim was an alien than he was about Dib not only breaking and entering but stealing- kidnapping?- as well. It was perfectly on-brand for him and Dib expected nothing less. 

So why did it hurt that his father was berating him for his beliefs?

As much as Dib hated to admit it, he… couldn’t completely blame his father or his teacher for being upset with him for breaking into someone’s house- even if that someone  _ was _ an evil alien attempting to dominate the planet. He understood that, under any circumstances, people would be upset about that, and he could deal with that, but what Dib  _ couldn’t _ deal with was the fact that, no matter what he said, did, or showed them,  _ no one _ would believe what he said. This went beyond just Dib and Zim- it went to the very core of Dib’s beliefs about their world and his father didn’t care about that at all. 

“The only reason I ever did  _ any _ of that is because I’m  _ right _ and  _ all _ of you would see it if you would just open your eyes and look at what’s  _ right in front of you _ !”

“Son, you can’t continue to follow these ridiculous, childish beliefs anymore!”

“If you ever bothered to  _ listen _ to me, you wouldn’t know that I’m not being ridiculous!”

“There is no  _ science _ on your side! Everything you believe about these things is based purely off of speculation and crazed fantasies of yours. The real world isn’t like that and in the real world, you  _ cannot _ do the things that you’ve done today.”

“No, in the  _ real world _ , people would care that there’s something trying to destroy all of them!”

“ _ Dib _ ,” Membrane stressed, “You are not  _ right _ about this. There are no aliens or ghosts or cryptids and the planet is in no danger from anything other than itself and the humans on it! You are not going to fix anything if you just chase these dreams- you can’t keep doing this. You should know better than this. When will you  _ learn _ that the world is made of fact and not fiction? When will you give up these foolish practices and start being a functional human being?”

Dib set his jaw and scrunched his eyes shut tightly to prevent himself from crying from his father’s words alone. He wasn’t going to give his dad the satisfaction.

“Son… I know that you’re smarter than this,” Membrane sighed, “You could do so much if you just dedicated your time to something more productive.”

“Are you done, yet?” Dib asked through clenched teeth, “I have homework to do.”

Membrane sighed once more, “Yes.”

“Oh, and, by the way, Mrs. Valentine is sending me to the school therapist because of this,” Dib said as he turned away, “So everyone will know about your “poor, insane son”. Maybe they’ll finally fix me for you.”

“Son-”

But Dib slammed his door shut before he could hear the rest of whatever Membrane was beginning to say. 

~~~

In vain, Dib had hoped that word of what he had done the previous day wouldn’t spread quickly- or at all- and that it wouldn’t come back to him or his “customers”. As it turned out though, that was not the case- not that Dib was shocked about the outcome. He had been on the throne for too long, he supposed. They had gone a long time before dethroning him.

Despite the drama of the “dethroning” analogy that he had made while he brooded instead of eating during lunch, he didn’t really  _ expect _ to be dethroned. He expected harassment, he expected to be shunned, he expected the people around him whispering his name in hushed tones. He did  _ not _ expect everyone who had relied upon him so heavily for such a long time to finally turn their backs on him completely. 

For  _ years _ these people had come to Dib for help on homework, projects, quizzes, and tests. They had been willing to do  _ anything _ to stay on his good side and get his help. They had offered him money and any kind of favour they possibly could so that they would succeed in their classes even half as well as Dib did. He had been a beacon of knowledge and cheating wisdom for their school- albeit a morally grey, somewhat bitchy one- for years. Before Zim arrived, no one had  _ ever _ tried to take him down and no one had ever questioned him like this.

Suddenly, people didn’t need him- or, more accurately- despite  _ needing _ him, they didn’t  _ want _ him. They were done with him. They were discarding him. 

Dib hadn’t realized how much he relied on his peers for validation before they all turned against him. The revolution had come quickly and intensely and he had lost all of his allies faster than he had ever expected. Suddenly, Dib was losing the  _ one thing _ in his life that gave him constant validation and allyship and he coul hardly remember the last time he had felt so utterly useless and alone. 

Well… in all honesty, he could. The last time he had felt like this was, well, before he had come to this school district. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to feel so alone.

Almost. 

He tried not to let his mind linger on that for too long, though. All of them had turned against him, yes, but that was only the first step. Once they realized how  _ helpless _ they were without Dib, they would turn to the next best thing for help from the painfully uncaring school district: Zim. 

Dib couldn’t afford for his main nemesis to take his  _ entire _ army. He knew that, if he gave Zim the chance, he would use Dib’s own people- well, his  _ ex-people _ \- against him. In a battle of just him versus Zim, he knew that the playing field was fairly even. In a battle of him versus Zim plus the power of the entire student body- not only that but a student body with a vengeance and a taste for Dib’s blood- he didn’t stand a chance.

With a sigh, Dib buried his face in his hands. 

He didn’t know what he was going to do.

~~~

Begrudgingly, Dib made his way to the room with the number that was written down on the paper Mrs. Valentine had given him the day previous. He couldn’t believe he was missing his homeroom- a chance to work on  _ any _ of his schoolwork- so he could go to a fucking  _ therapist _ . He wasn’t crazy and he didn’t need help! 

Once outside the door, he took a deep breath, one hand on the doorknob.

When he was in there, he was going to have to put up a front. He was going to have to play a specific role and he was going to have to play it  _ well _ if he wanted to get out of this situation without too much difficulty or without getting institutionalized for his beliefs. 

That was okay. Dib knew how to lie. He had grown up doing it, after all. 

Cracking open the door, Dib called in softly, “Is this Mr. Elliot?”

A smiling, blonde man sat on the other side of a cluttered desk in the centre of the room. He waved to Dib gently as if beckoning him to come all the way inside. Just seeing him make the movement made Dib feel like an animal walking directly into a trap.

“Yes! Come on in.”

Dib did as told, carefully closing the door behind him and taking a few steps towards the desk. He refused to sit down at the overstuffed chair just yet, though.

“Dib Membrane, right?” Mr. Elliot leaned over his desk so he could shake his hand. 

“Yeah.”

Before saying anything else. Mr. Elliot gestured for Dib to sit down. Regretfully, Dib did as he was told.

“So, I heard that you had a little incident regarding one of your classmates the other day?” The way the man spoke irritated Dib. He already knew what had happened, so why was he forcing him to relive it? 

“Yeah…”

“What exactly happened there?” He supposed the cheerful, gentle tone of voice that the older man used was an attempt to placate Dib, but it  _ definitely _ wasn’t working.

“Nothing-” at the raised eyebrow, DIb hurriedly went to explain, “I mean,  _ obviously _ , something happened but it was just because I was tired. I’ve been, uh, really stressed out about school recently. I guess I let it get to my head.” Dib let out a soft, breathy laugh.

Mr. Elliot nodded sympathetically, “Is there anything specifically that’s been stressing you out, lately?”

“Nothing in particular,” Dib shook his head. He hadn’t come up with a more specific answer to the question, yet, “Just… everything. I guess the fact that it’ll be my last year soon is part of it. I’ve been really worried about impressing colleges and finding things that will look good on my applications. I’ve been putting forth more effort in my classes than usual, so I’ve been getting a lot less sleep.”

“I’ve seen your grades, Dib, and I know that you tutor your peers after school frequently. You’re going to look great to colleges, even if you don’t do anything more. Why do you feel like you need to put forth so much more effort than usual?”

“Because…” Dib didn’t have to try to hard to think of an excuse, “My dad puts a lot of pressure on me.”

Mr. Elliot opened his mouth to say something but Dib cut him off quickly to clarify. 

“I don’t mean that he’s abusive or anything, and he isn’t, like… actively  _ trying _ to put pressure on me, it’s just… he’s, well,  _ him _ and I’m  _ me _ and that’s a lot to live up to, y’know?”

He frowned sympathetically, “I know how that can be, but, Dib, acting out isn’t going to help anything. Your father is going to be proud of you no matter what.”

Dib held his tongue. No matter how untrue  _ that _ was, he couldn’t say anything- at least, not if he wanted to get out of there anytime soon and avoid having to see Mr. Elliot on a regular basis.

“I just haven’t been thinking straight these past few days,” Dib explained, “And I’ve always been really interested with conspiracy theories-” at Mr. Elliot’s shift in expressions, Dib back-peddled slightly- “Not that I  _ believe _ in them, necessarily. I just think it’s interesting to hear other people’s theories and ideas, even if they’re crazy. I think the combination of those two things just... Got to my head.”

Mr. Elliot nodded, encouraging him to continue talking. 

“I know that I really shouldn’t have done that, and, looking back at it, I’m… really ashamed because I now see how ridiculous it was.”

“How do you think you can fix that?”

Dib shrugged. He was being completely honest- he had no clue what he was going to do, now. He hadn’t left himself with many options for what to do next. 

“Well,  _ I _ think that going to Zim, apologizing to him for what you did and said, and trying to work things out with him would be a good start. Break bread with him and smooth things over. Let him know that you meant no harm.”

“How should I do that?”

“How do  _ you _ think you should do that?”

Dib didn’t know whether or not that was a rhetorical question, but the idea of “fixing” things with Zim made him think. Everyone was turning against and he no longer had any real allies. He couldn’t depend on anyone. He  _ had _ to do something before Zim turned everyone against him and left him completely defenceless.

The bell rang and DIb looked up at the clock hanging on the wall above them. 

“My next class is with him, actually…” Dib began.

“That’s fantastic,” a blindingly sunny grin spread across Mr. Elliot’s face, “Talk to him.”

Dib responded with a smirk of his own, “Oh, I will.”

~~~

The sound of hands slamming down atop Zim’s desk startled him out of his thoughts. More surprising, though, was the fact that the source of the sound was none other than Dib himself.

Crossing his arms, Zim leaned back in his chair, “Are you here to make another pathetic attempt on my life, Dib-Worm?”

“No,” Dib met his eyes intensely, not breaking eye contact, “I want to take you up on your offer from earlier.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My description of the school therapist was not meant in any way to speak negatively of therapists and going to psychologists, in general. I, for one, go to a therapist and he has been incredibly helpful for me! Dib just had a jaded view of him going into the meeting and, frequently, school psychologists are… ah, not the best.
> 
> Also, my autocorrect didn't call me out any time that I misspelt "Elliot" whilst typing too quickly, so there's a chance that I missed a few times I messed that up. My apologies if so!


	10. Quid Pro Quo

The smile that graced Zim’s face could only be described as shit-eating and the expression on his face, in general, was that of intense pride and smugness. Clearly, he was proud of himself for making Dib cave and join his side. The very sight of it made Dib tempted to reconsider.

“Don’t look so excited,  _ Space-Boy _ ,” Dib removed his hands from the desk and crossed his arms over his chest, removing himself from Zim’s space, “Before we make any decisions about the fate of this planet, I want to test something out, first.”

“Eh?” Zim cocked his head to one side curiously. 

“I want to do a sort… “free trial”, first,” Dib explained, “I want to see how well we can work together and if I can even really trust you in the first place.”

Zim hummed, thinking it over. “Fair enough. How do you propose we go about this “trial period”, though?”

“You remember the maths project that’s coming up?”

“...The what?”

Dib rolled his eyes, “You haven’t been paying attention in that class, have you?”

Zim just shrugged. 

Dib groaned, “There’s a big school-wide project coming up soon. You can work on your own or in groups and, basically, they’re going to give us some difficult equation or something of the sort to work out. It’s something that happens in the district every few years and we get really competitive about it.” 

Zim’s expression was somewhat vacant. 

“Have you  _ really _ been paying so little attention to your classes that you didn’t hear about this shit?”

“I have more important things to think about,” Zim snapped defensively.

Dib just rolled his eyes at that. He found himself doing that quite a bit around the infuriating alien before him. 

“You want to join forces with me to dominate the school before you stand by my side as I dominate your pathetic little rock?”

“Something like that, yes… So? Do we have a deal or not?”

Zim gave Dib a devilish grin, clearly pleased with himself in more ways than one. He held a hand out to Dib, “You have yourself a deal, Dib. Let’s demolish this pitiful school!”

~~~

Zim would be lying if he claimed that he wasn’t at least a little excited about the outcome of the situation. 

While it hadn’t gone the way he had hoped or expected, Zim loved doing anything and everything that he could to establish his power and prove his worth. Even if it was something as simple as school, he knew that taking down the populous of brats we make him feel  _ fantastic _ . It may not have been anywhere near as important as his actual mission, but he considered this to be a necessary “side-quest” towards getting what he wanted. Besides, either way, he was getting something out of the arrangement. He would be successful and, once the Dib saw how good they were together, he would join Zim in conquering the planet! Perhaps they could even rule side-by-side.

He wasn’t sure how his Tallests would react to him bringing Dib, though… He  _ was _ an ally, though and he would be helpful for the mission so, perhaps if Dib proved his loyalty to them, they would allow him to join as a somewhat weak part of the Armada. 

Zim wasn’t completely sure why, but the idea of taking over all of space side-by-side with Dib was incredibly thrilling. Maybe it was the fact that there was a possibility that he would make the Tallests proud by recruiting another, or maybe the fact that he had convinced the human had been enough to make him excited on its own. Still, the possibilities made Zim smile. When thinking about the possible future for him, the Armada, and Dib, he felt what he could only describe as galaxies exploding in his chest. It felt as though there was a supernova erupting within him.

Maybe he needed to take a closer look at that? It was an abnormal feeling for Irkens. He would have to consult Computer and his pak and, possibly, even make repairs to himself and the pak. 

He was getting ahead of himself, though.

Before he could even think about him and Dib being allied forces in space, working for the Armada together, they had to get through the stupid little project for their school. 

Zim wasn’t worried, though. It wouldn’t be difficult to best all of the petulant children at Astra Academy. Then, it would only be a matter of time before he got to what he  _ really  _ wanted. 

~~~

“I don’t see why you chose to do this in such a stupidly open location,” Zim groaned. 

Dib, being the stubborn person that he was, had decided that the two of them should start working on the project together immediately. So, they met after school in one of the empty classroom, giving them some peace to work. Zim didn’t mind starting that day- not at all. In fact, it would give them plenty of time to succeed and get where they wanted to be. The quicker they started, the quicker Zim would get his payoff. 

What  _ did _ annoy him was the fact that Dib had chosen to stay inside the school for their project. Of course, staying there for only an hour or so was no problem, but they had already been there for a few hours and had barely even made a dent in their work. Besides, a couple of other dirt children had wandered in and out of the classroom, making it easy for them to overhear  _ everything _ that they said while working. Any one of them could easily have cheated off of them- not that it would have gotten them far considering what little progress the two of them had made.

“Well, where did  _ you _ want to work on this?”

“One of our bases seems like a far better place for productivity.”

“No way, Space Boy. There is  _ no way _ that I am ever going to let you into my house.”

Zim let out an affronted huff, “Why not?”

“Because that’s a risk that I am  _ not _ willing to take. You could kill my family or break in while I’m sleeping or something.”

“You know the location of  _ my _ base, though.”

“Not my problem.”

Zim glared, “Are we not teammates now, Dib-Thing?”

“Just because I’ve decided to join forces for you for now- which I would like to remind you that this  _ is _ just a trial-run of our partnership- doesn’t mean that I actually  _ trust _ you, yet.”

“Are the best of partnerships not founded on mutual trust?” Zim recited something he had heard some foolish adult mention. 

Dib rolled his eyes, “Yeah, maybe if we were friends or fuck buddies, that would matter, but, right now, all we’re doing is working on a project. I’ll give you my trust when I  _ know _ that it’s safe for me to do so.”

Zim sighed, finally caving. He supposed that that was a fair enough statement and he didn’t want to risk pushing the human away completely by continuing to question him on the topic. He could wait for the Dib to relinquish his trust to him. 

“If you’re that worried about our “productivity” in this room, though, we can go somewhere else,” Dib suggested, “We could go to a random cafe or something, and it’s not as if I don’t already know where you live.”

With a hum, Zim nodded, “Fine. Tomorrow, we can reconvene at my base to continue work on the project. For now, though, I have to go home. There’s work to be done.”

Dib cocked an eyebrow, “There’s “work to be done”? What does  _ that _ mean?”

“What? You think my life revolves around  _ you _ , Dib-Beast?”

“Yes, actually,” Dib grinned, earning him a glare from the alien across the table from him, “But seriously. You aren’t planning on doing something diabolic, right? Our truce  _ does _ mean something to you?”

“Of course!” Zim snapped, “I am nothing if not a man of my word.” Still, he continued to pack up. 

“Then what are you doing?”

Zim sighed, “ _ You _ may be content wasting your life in this room, but I’m already bored. I have better things to do, I a solemnly swear that I won’t do anything destructive towards you or this disgusting rock.”

Dib still looked sceptical. 

“Do  _ you _ not have anything better to do? It is late,” Zim gestured towards the window as if to prove his point, though the sun was still far from setting, “Aren’t the parental units of your kind supposed to worry about their spawn arriving back to their bases in a timely manner?”

“My stars, I can’t believe people haven’t put together that you’re an alien based off of your speech patterns alone,” Dib rolled his eyes, “And why would  _ he  _ care when I come back home?”

If Zim’s antennae weren’t pinned down by the wig that he wore, they would have perked up at that. There was some bitterness in his voice, something there that Zim couldn’t quite put his finger on. Still, he could tell that he’d hit a sore spot.

“Why wouldn’t he?”

Dib regarded him carefully for a moment, as though deeply considering what to say, “Forget it. I should be heading home. I have some other homework to do.”

Zim pushed aside his disappointment that Dib wasn’t going to share what was bothering him. Still, he supposed that that was something that came with the territory of waiting for his human’s trust. Perhaps they weren’t there, yet, but that didn’t matter. It would take some time but Zim  _ would _ prove to Dib that he was trustworthy and that he could help him. Dib would come around.

~~~

“Son! You’re home awfully late, today…”

Dib couldn’t help but let out a quiet groan as he heard his father’s voice. Of course, now that he had actually spoken out about his concerns at school, his dad was taking concern about him. He was absolutely certain that, had he not gotten in trouble at school the other day, his dad wouldn’t give a shit- he probably wouldn’t even take notice if he came home at midnight. Why was it that he only got his father’s attention when he  _ didn’t _ want or need it?

“Yeah,” Dib shrugged, shutting and locking the door behind him. He tried to stay nonchalant as he did so. He didn’t  _ need _ his father’s attention.

“Why is that?” Membrane’s voice sounded conversational, but Dib could hear the underlying hints of concern, “You weren’t with...?”

“I was working on a project for school,” Dib cut him off before he could finish, not wanting to hear whatever his dad was going to say about him, Zim, and everything that had happened the other day, “It’s a big project so I spent a lot of time there with my partner.”

“A project,” his shoulder’s slumped with relief at that, “You know you can bring your friends over here to work.”

“We didn’t want to leave school grounds.”

“Right…”

An uncomfortable silence fell between them once more and it made Dib’s stomach churn. He hated how he had to hide things from his father to avoid this kind of awkwardness and disappointment. He loathed the fact that his father never believed what he told him, that he didn’t care what he had to say unless it had to do with school or science.

“Anyways, I have homework to do,” Dib turned and escaped to his room, trying to push away the anger he felt towards his dad. Things had always been this way, so why was it bothering him so much, now? 

Dib let out a sigh and leaned against the door to his bedroom, sinking down to the floor and drawing his knees up to his chest. He had been in the same position yesterday, but this time, he didn’t have the strange, evil robot of Zim’s to hug him. That shouldn’t have been so disappointing to him. 

Dib felt so incredibly alone. Even if he was making efforts with Zim, he felt as though he had lost everything and as though everyone was pinned against him. He hoped that he could trust Zim, but it was difficult to stay positive when what felt like his only hope was his nemesis. 

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He would be fine. If it came to it, Dib knew that he would be able to put up a fight against him. Hopefully, Dib would be able to form a decent alliance with Zim, but he wouldn’t let the alien get the upper hand if things went poorly. Even if Zim seemed like the only person not completely against him, he couldn’t allow himself to fall into a trap if there was one there.

A groan reverberated through Dib’s chest. He was  _ so _ irritated with himself. For being so foolish as to trust his peers, for allowing his father to find out, for letting himself believe that he could win so easily. Dib felt so utterly confused about his relationship with Zim and how things would go between the two of them now that he had finally caved and formed the truce with him. 

Not for the first time, Dib wished that he could just turn off his feelings. Life would be so much easier if he didn’t have to worry about so many different aspects of the world around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, I'm sorry if this is a bit disorganized. I've had some writers-block issues as of late, but I wanted to try to write something regardless to see if that would help at all (and I didn't want to go too long without giving you guys SOMETHING).


	11. Dreams

_Darkness swallowed Dib. It was a strange feeling, but not one that he was unfamiliar with. Despite the inky darkness surrounding him on all sides, Dib could tell where he was- or, at the very least, he could assume. If he could trust his senses, then he was somewhere in the school and he was surrounded by more than just the darkness._

_Voices. Familiar voices filled his ears. They swarmed him and filled his mind with different thoughts. Their words wrapped themselves around him and choked him with their strength. It was overwhelming, so loud that he couldn’t make out individual words. He didn’t need to what specific things they were saying, though. He_ knew _even if he couldn’t hear._

_Though the noises weren’t specific enough, Dib believed he had a fairly reliable hypothesis._

_They were talking about_ him _. Not just him- but how delusional and pathetic he was. They spoke of how powerless he was and how_ unworthy _he was. The people of Astra did not trust nor believe him- let alone the people of Earth. None of them trusted him none of them believed him. None of them stood beside him…_

_Not even his father._

_But one voice rose above the sea of others, making itself heard._

_Strangely enough, it was Zim. In the moment, though, it didn’t feel odd and it didn’t come as a shock to Dib that Zim’s voice was the only one that was in support of him. It was just another fact that Dib didn’t even think to second guess. In the sea of doubt, his nemesis was there._

Dib woke with a start, jolting so violently that he banged his head against whatever was behind him. 

He let out a groan, bringing a hand up to massage the back of his head gently. That had hurt, yes, but he had grown accustomed to pain _far_ worse than this- the sudden sensation had startled him more than anything. 

Still tried despite just waking up, Dib blinked, somewhat confused about where he was. It took him a moment to recognize that he was on his bedroom floor.

Unbeknownst to Dib, the teenager had fallen asleep on the floor in front of his door, curled up on his side and still fully dressed in his school uniform. He couldn’t remember how or when exactly he had fallen asleep, but he guessed that he had just been too drained to stay awake any longer.

Blearily, Dib stretched and looked around his room. Even with the windows slightly open, the room was nearly pitch black. 

He stood and went over to his bed, checking his alarm clock to see what time it was. 

Thankfully, it was early in the morning and Dib still had a few hours before his alarm went off. Good. At least he would have a couple more hours of sleep. 

Before lying down, he kicked off his shoes, removed his tie and jacket, and undid the top few buttons on his shirt. He only has a few more hours before he would have to go to school, so Dib saw no point in changing his clothes. Besides, he was too tired to do much other than curl up in his bed and wait for sleep to take him once more. Despite just having awoken, he felt completely drained and just as tired as he had been before. 

At least he would have some respite before having to go back to school. 

As he laid down, though, he found his mind wandering. 

The dream itself wasn’t too strange- at least the majority of it wasn’t. Dib was no stranger to dreams that reflected his… _insecurities_ . He was used to having a nervous bit of doubt in his dreams, but, recent events just proved his deeper concerns about how everyone saw him. _That_ much of the dream was obvious… what stood out to him, though, was Zim’s appearance. 

Zim showing up in his dreams wasn’t the strangest thing, but, typically, when it happened, the relationship between the two of them and their general dynamic wasn’t so… _friendly_. Usually, if Zim showed up in his dreams, the dream revolved around Dib trying to take him down (and the occasional nightmare about Zim torturing Dib or dominating the world, but Dib didn’t like to acknowledge those). This dream, though, was strange in that sense. This one completely broke from the pattern that Dib had grown to understand and expect and he couldn’t quite discern why. 

With a groan, Dib slipped off his glasses and buried himself beneath the covers. He could figure out what his dream meant later. For now, he would sleep.

~~~

Zim sat on a small, metal bench in the courtyard of Astra Academy, idly drumming his claws atop the rough surface. He wasn’t ready to head into school just yet, not wanting to deal with his peers. Ever since Dib’s strange fall from power in the hierarchy of their school more and more students had been coming to _him_ for help rather than Dib. It gave Zim a sick sense of pride and brought a smile to his face to see that he had not only dethroned his nemesis but had, essentially, taken over his kingdom as well. 

Despite the pride that he felt for what he had done to Dib and his status there, seeing Dib so distressed was… far less entertaining than he had anticipated. Plus, Dib’s “loyal subjects” could be _incredibly_ irritating- especially that Keef kid. 

The sound of someone approaching didn’t stir Zim from his reverie until he noticed who it was: Dib Membrane. 

“Dib-Thing!” Zim called out.

It took Dib a moment to look up and meet Zim’s gaze. His eyebrows were knitted together and there were strange, faintly purple marks underneath his eyes. Even his clothes were rumpled and looked less… _clean_ than they usually did. Dib was in a subtly rough state, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Zim.

Zim spoke again once Dib was close enough to hear, “What is wrong with your _eyes_?” Zim gestured to Dib’s face, his own features twisting with slight disgust at the concerning sight. 

Dib rolled his eyes, “It’s nothing.”

“Clearly, that isn’t true.”

“It’s just something that happens to humans when they’re tired or can’t sleep.”

 _"Tired?"_

_"Yes_. Humans need to sleep,” Dib explained, exasperation thick in his voice, “When they don’t get enough sleep or don’t sleep _well_ , they get tired.”

“So you didn’t get enough sleep, then?” Zim ventured. At Dib’s nod, he continued, “Why didn’t you simply sleep for longer, then?”

“That’s not always how it works, Zim,” Dib sighed, “Sometimes, even when you _try_ to sleep, you can’t. And, sometimes, even when you _can_ kind of sleep, it doesn’t work very well and you still end up feeling tired when you wake up.”

“Humans are so complicated,” Zim grumbled. Sometimes, he truly didn’t understand why Dib was such a formidable foe when he came from the same species that could be toppled by something as simple as not consuming enough water or not getting a specific amount of rest under incredibly specific circumstances. 

“Anyways, I don’t have time to explain human shit to you, Zim. I have homework to do.”

“Did you not do the homework yesterday after returning to your base?”

“Clearly not,” Dib rolled his eyes. 

“Why not?” Had the Dib been busy scheming instead of doing his assignments as he usually did? If so, Zim really had to step it up… 

“Because I fell asleep when I get home but I kept waking up in the middle of the night so I didn’t get enough sleep _and_ I didn’t have the time to do my assignments,” DIb snapped, sounding somewhat irritable in his weakened state. If the two of them hadn’t made the truce already, Zim would have been tempted to take him on while he was in this strange and vulnerable state (though he was clearly still as fiery as always, so perhaps that wouldn’t have helped him at all, even if that _were_ a possibility still).

Before Dib could turn around and head inside the school to hurriedly begin work on his homework to avoid getting in trouble, Zim caught his wrist in his hand, “Wait.”

“What?” Dib sighed, turning to face his enemy.

Zim dug through his pak for a moment before removing a few things and holding them out to Dib. Instead of gratefully accepting the bundle of yesterday’s homework from Zim, Dib squinted slightly, scrutinizing the papers he held in his claws, “What are those?”

“The homework assignments of yesterday,” Zim explained, “You said you needed them, correct? Well, here they are.”

“You’re… giving me your homework so I can copy it?”

“Yes. My studies have shown me that sharing and exchanging homework is typical behaviour among allied human forces.” Those “studies” being garbage high school coming-of-age movies with GIR in the background while he worked on more productive things. 

“How astute of you,” Dib hesitated for a moment before accepting the offering from Zim, “Thanks.”

He took a seat on the bench and Zim sat beside him. Dib made quick work of the homework and was careful to change enough of it for their actions to not be too obvious to the teachers. 

Zim knew how much effort Dib typically put into the school- as pathetic and useless as it was- and how intelligent the human was. In all reality, Dib didn’t _need_ Zim’s help- he was perfectly capable of doing all of the homework on his own- albeit somewhat more slowly that way- but he had _chosen_ to allow Zim to help him. He had been offered Zim’s help and he took it.

While this could have just been Dib accepting Zim’s offer to avoid doing the work or the speed things along, he almost certainly wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t trust Zim at least a _little_. Zim considered this to be an absolute win!

It didn’t take too long for Dib to complete the assignments that he had needed. In fact, the two of them still had a couple of minutes before the warning bell would even ring. This, Zim thought, was the perfect opportunity for a “teenage bonding” moment (perhaps those movies that GIR continued to make him watch were getting into his head too much).

Once finished, Dib handed the papers back to Zim, muttering his thanks as he did so. Zim could have sworn that he saw the Dib’s face change hue subtly for a moment, but it faded quickly and was hidden from sight. It must have been his eyes deceiving him- humans couldn’t change colours, as far as Zim knew. 

“So...” Zim began conversationally as though he were talking to an acquaintance rather than his nemesis that he was trying to sway to his side, “Why could you not sleep?”

“Why do you _care_?” Dib asked. It didn’t sound defensive as so many of his words towards Zim were. Instead, they sounded genuinely curious. 

“Why would I _not_ care?” Zim countered, “As Zim’s ally, I must ensure that you’re doing well!”

Under his breath, Dib murmured, “Sounds fake, but okay.”

“If you’re too cowardly to tell me, then, by all means, keep your secrets…” Zim temped, pushing him. 

“I am not being _cowardly_ ,” Dib defended, taking the bait, “I just didn’t want to say anything because it isn’t of any importance to you.”

“For your information, Dib-Beast, what ails you _is_ of importance to me, as your ally in this project.”

“For _your_ information, a truce doesn’t change the nature of our relationship as much as you seem to think it does. We’re not all buddy-buddy just because we’ve decided to experiment with _not_ killing each other. We aren’t _friends_ .” Despite his words, though, Dib explained, “It wasn’t anything important, I just had some strange dreams that kept me up. Weird dreams can make it difficult to sleep. Nothing to worry about. Your _ally_ is fine.”

The bell rang, cutting through their conversation and drawing their attention away from one another momentarily. In sync, the two of them stood, ready to head off in opposite directions and make their ways towards their respective classes. 

Zim wasn’t done, though.

“Things may not have changed for _you_ , Dib-Thing, but I am a man of my word. Things _have_ changed for me.”

Without elaborating on his words, Zim turned from his human ally and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever sleep for hours and still feel exhausted for the entirety of the day and it drains your brainpower? That. That's it, that's the chapter. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this, and, if you've been having difficulty with sleep like Dib (and quite a bit of the world), I hope you get a fantastic night's sleep tonight and wake up feeling amazing.


	12. Baby Steps

Dib shouldn’t have been surprised that the answers Zim had given him on their assignments were correct. It wasn’t that he doubted the alien’s abilities, but Zim didn’t exactly pay  _ attention _ in all of their classes- or any, for that matter- and, despite the fact that they were currently playing nice, their history of violently trying to take one another down didn’t leave him with a lot of trust in the alien. 

Thankfully, though, he was able to get all of his assignments from the other night turned in on time with little worry. His professors said nothing about his work being incorrect or copied, so, with a sigh of relief, he decided that he was in the clear. If any of them  _ did _ notice something sketchy about his work, then they likely didn’t care enough to bust him for it, anyways. 

Drumming his fingers on his desk idly as he half-listened to his teacher’s lecture, Dib glanced up at the clock hanging at the front of the room. He had to hold back an anguished groan at the reminder the clock brought. 

Ever since his little  _ mishap _ with Zim and his strange robot-dog, the faculty regarded him with mild concern. Luckily, he had a decent enough status to avoid too much trouble.  _ Unfortunately _ , he hadn’t been stealthy and “normal” enough when he met with Mr. Elliot the first time to avoid meeting with him more than once and the school therapist now expected him to come and visit him somewhat regularly. They even had a schedule set up for them. 

Disgusting. 

Dib really wished that he could  _ trust _ his “therapist”. It was obvious that Mr. Elliot didn’t believe him about the situation with Zim, though, and he knew better than to expect that to change anytime soon. Besides, he couldn’t handle him calling his dad and filling him in on his “behaviour issues”. 

He shuddered at the thought. 

No, he had to at least  _ pretend _ to be as stupid and blind as everyone else at their school to avoid trouble. He couldn’t risk honesty. He knew what being honest got him and it was almost never good- especially not with people like Mr. Elliot. 

Finally, the bell rang, signifying that class was over and that they were free to escape to the cafeteria. 

This time, Dib had managed to convince Mr. Elliot to meet with him during Dib’s lunch period rather than his homeroom (Dib hated lunch at school anyway- it was far too loud and crowded for him to focus on getting any work done during the time, he had no friends in the period to sit with, and the food was absolutely  _ disgusting _ \- he didn’t mind giving it up), so the sound of the bell sent him hurrying to Mr. Elliot’s small class. 

“Dib!” Mr. Elliot sounded genuinely surprised to see Dib actually show up and Dib couldn’t really blame him. He had made it abundantly clear to Mrs. Valentine that he didn’t want to be there and she very likely told Mr. Elliot of his hesitance to come (traitor). “It’s good to see you.”

Dib just nodded and greeted him quietly before sitting down. 

“So,” Mr. Elliot pushed aside the papers that had been in front of him, focusing in on Dib, “How did things go between you and Zim?”

“Things are fine.” He had to keep his answers brief and vague if at all possible.

“Elaborate?”

Fuck. 

“We’re working on the maths project together.” Dib really should have assumed that Mr. Elliot would question him about what  _ exactly _ was happening between him and his alien “friend”. It was just strange for anyone to take interest in what he was doing (distantly, he blamed his father’s disinterest in his life for that). 

“Really?” He seemed to brighten at that, “That’s a pretty big step for the two of you. The project is a big deal.”

“Yeah, well, we have about the same skill level, so it made sense,” DIb reasoned. 

Mr. Elliot nodded, “That makes sense.”

Dib returned the gesture but said nothing else. 

“That means that you two have had to spend more time together, right? The project must demand a lot of your time and attention. Have things been…  _ civil _ between you two.”

“Of course,” Dib answered a little too fast, “We’ve been fine. When we meet up to work on it together, we usually just focus on the project completely for the time we’re here. We don’t really have many chances to  _ not _ be civil.”

“Wait ‘here’?” Mr. Elliot asked, “The two of you meet here to work on the project.”

“Yeah?” Dib squinted slightly as if he found the question stupid- which he did- “What about it?”

“Well, most people work at their own homes unless they  _ have _ to stay here.”

“What’s your point?” Dib furrowed his eyebrows, the hairs on the back of his neck pricking defensively. 

Mr. Elliot seemed to take note of his feelings on the subject, “To me, that means that things aren’t  _ really _ going well between the two fo you. Tell me, Dib, why  _ don’t _ you work at one of your homes?”

“We just decided that it would be better to work here.”

Mr. Elliot didn’t seem to believe him. 

“ _ Fine _ ,” Dib sighed, “It’s because I don’t want him coming over, but is that really so weird considering our history? Our… ‘friendship’ isn’t at that stage, yet.” 

“You two will never be okay if you don’t  _ trust _ one another,” Mr. Elliot frowned, “Dib I have a feeling I know why you acted out against Zim.”

Dib felt his entire body tense up against his will. Obviously, he had directly stated  _ why _ he didn’t trust Zim- he knew that he was an alien- but Mr. Elliot seemed to be looking at it more closely than that. Suddenly, Dib felt worried that he was going to claim Dib was insane like so many other people had- god, he really had to improve his acting skills if he needed to stay Incognito about this stuff at school. 

“Don’t look so panicked,” Mr. Elliot held up his hands, eyes softening, “I think you’re acting out against Zim and refuse to trust him because your relationships with your peers are superficial.”

“What do you mean ‘superficial’?” Dib’s voice dripped with accusation and he knew it. Of course, Mr. Elliot was completely right. He had had allies all across the school before things were shaken up but they  _ had _ all been superficial- nothing more than relationships for the sake of having a mutually beneficial connection. Still, it was irritating to have that pointed out, especially considering how long those relationships had gone well (Dib was still bitter about his horrible “defeat”).

“I  _ mean _ I don’t think you ever allowed yourself to be  _ genuine _ around your peers.”

“That’s not true.” 

“Then tell me: who are some of your friends?”

Dib felt his face grow hot with embarrassed anger. He really couldn’t answer that without lying and he had a feeling Mr. Elliot would call his bluff if he attempted that. 

“Precisely,” he sighed, “Dib, I know that you’ve been trained your entire life to focus on nothing more than schoolwork, but it is  _ vital _ to have strong bonds with your peers! You aren’t going to feel any better if you don’t let yourself be vulnerable around  _ someone _ . That person doesn’t have to be me or Zim but it has to be  _ someone _ .”

“I don’t need to get ‘better’,” Dib huffed, “I’m fine.”

“I mean no offence, but, last time we met, you had just accused one of your peers of being an alien. You brushed it off as being something you did because you were tired and stressed out and not thinking straight, but you  _ have  _ to know that that isn’t typical behaviour,” he gestured vaguely, “I believed you when you explained why you did what you did and I understand completely-”

Dib gave him an unimpressed look, unable to hold back his deadpan glare. He  _ highly _ doubted Mr. Elliot could even slightly relate to what Dib was going through. 

“-but that stress and pressure isn’t going to get any better if you don’t do anything about it. Having a support group is important- especially for someone in your position.”

Dib tried not to read too much into Mr. Elliot’s words. 

“Listen, I’m not telling you you have to become best friends with your… ‘nemesis’-”

Dib cringed slightly at the way he said that. As if there wasn’t really any reason for him to distrust the alien that he was fighting against. As though he were just being paranoid and crazy. He hated how frequently he felt like that, recently- like everyone saw him completely different, now.

“-I’m just saying you should do  _ something _ to repair things between you two. You’ll feel a lot once you do, I’m sure of it.”

Dib sighed, “You can’t repair something that doesn’t exist.”

“Then make it,” he countered, “Invite him over to your house. Just work on your project together. Once you do, you’ll see that you really have nothing to fear.”

Dib clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth with irritation. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite the fact that they had formed a “truce”, Zim came from a race that wanted to completely wipe out his planet- he had  _ no reason _ to trust him. The concern that Zim would take advantage of Dib’s vulnerability and attack him and his family while there was a very real possibility.

Dib couldn’t stop himself from practically hissing, “I’m  _ not _ being paranoid.”

“I didn’t say you were,” Mr. Elliot assured, “I understand why you two don’t trust one another, but I still think you should do something. I think, once you let yourself relax around him, you’ll realize that you aren’t in any danger. Friendship doesn’t have to be scary, Dib.”

What a sweet and gentle way of saying that Dib was crazy and scared of intimacy. 

“ _ Fine _ . If it’ll get you off my back, I’ll talk to him and invite Zim over, but it isn’t going to change anything. We’re not going to miraculously become best friends and have a perfect relationship just because he knows where I live.” Dib knew that he shouldn’t be so snippy with someone of authority over him, but he couldn’t help it. He was sick and tired of everyone around him suddenly questioning and distrusting him. He didn’t need the help of some crappy school shrink to get him through his life- he could take care of himself just fine and, considering the idiocy of the majority of his peers and the faculty, Dib was the only person he could trust. 

Mr. Elliot frowned at Dib’s tone, but said nothing. Instead, he allowed the agitated student to head off to his next class.

~~~

Although Dib had intended to spend his homeroom time working on his actual homework and getting as much of it done as possible, something else entirely was demanding his attention. He was, childish as it was, mildly worked up after his conversation with Mr. Elliot. It just went to remind him how far he had fallen because of Zim and, now, he would have to spend even more time with the alien in an even more “intimate” location.

As basic as it seemed, it truly would be a big step for him to invite the other man into his home. Sure, the moment of kindness he had shown Dib that morning had inspired  _ some _ trust in the human’s heart, but that didn’t change the fact that Zim’s entire reason for being nice to him was the hope that DIb would give up fighting him and  _ join _ him in taking over his own planet. 

They really did have a strange relationship. 

Dib massaged his temples. He hated the idea of allowing the alien into his home. His house was a safe and sacred place and, most importantly, it was where his  _ family _ lived. He may not have had a perfect relationship with his dad, but he still loved him and wanted to make him proud. As upsetting as it was for his dad to trust him so little, he didn’t want to see his enemy hurt him.

Things felt unnecessarily complicated. The truce he had formed with Zim did absolutely nothing to lessen that feeling.

~~~

Dib entered their chemical engineering class looking irritated but determined and immediately came over to where Zim was sitting that day. He said nothing to the alien, simply shoving a slightly crumpled piece of parchment paper in his direction before sitting down at his own seat. 

Zim shouldn’t have been surprised. It seemed as though, recently, Dib always stormed over to his desk before this class to announce something groundbreaking to Zim. The alien had no problem with that, though. 

Carefully, Zim unfolded the paper in his hands, eyes scanning over the paper. Scrawled across it in somewhat sloppy handwriting were a series of numbers followed by a location. It was a short and curt message but Zim couldn’t help but grin at it. It was a small step, but it meant  _ progress _ .

_ Come to my house at 4:00 if you want to work on the project. Text me if you need to reschedule.  _

_ \- Dib M. _


	13. Lost

Zim had been slightly taken aback when he read the content of Dib’s note earlier that day. While he knew that he had been making a small amount of headway in his attempts to gain the Dib’s trust, he really hadn’t anticipated things going that well. Maybe he should give the Dib homework answer more frequently? Though Zim was certain there was more to it than just that- of all of the humans of their school, Dib was the most complex- in Zim’s eyes, at least. 

Nonetheless, he gathered what he would need for their project and dumped off unnecessary items at his own home before leaving. 

“GIR, listen up!” Zim demanded his small robot’s attention, “I will be at the Dib-Thing’s house for a couple of hours.”

“You’re going to see your boyfriend?” GIR chirped, excitement in his voice. 

“ _ No _ !” Zim snapped, “We are working on a project for school. I’m working on gaining his trust by doing this.”

“Uh-huh,” GIR nodded but didn’t seem convinced. 

Zim rolled his eyes, “I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. Will you be alright here on your own?” He hated how his concern shown through as he said that, but he had never left GIR home alone for anything other than school and certainly never late at night (he validated that to himself by saying that it was because he was worried about GIR tearing the house apart rather than him just being worried about GIR’s wellbeing when he left him alone). 

“I’ll be fiiiiine!” GIR reassured Zim before turning back to face the television- where his horrible monkey show was being displayed (Zim practically shuddered in disgust at the show). 

“Right… there’s waffle mix in the kitchen if you want food,” Zim finished gathering materials and headed back to the front door, checking his wig and contact lenses one more time before heading out, “Later, GIR.”

“Bye-bye!”

With that, Zim began his trek towards the human’s house. He was incredibly proud of himself for making such progress with Dib and it clearly showed. Zim had a pleased spring in his step as he made his way to Dib’s home, note with his address still in hand. 

At nearly 4:10, though, Zim still hadn’t found Dib’s house. He really should have looked up directions before bothering to start looking, but he had been so excited to get going that he had completely ignored the fact that he had the  _ worst _ sense of direction. 

Not wanted dib to get the wrong idea, Zim dug his cellphone out of his pocket and punched Dib’s number into it. 

It took a few rings, but Dib picked up, “Hello?”

“Dib-Beast?”

“Oh, Zim,” Dib sounded mildly surprised that Zim was calling him, “It’s you.”

“Of  _ course  _ it’s me,” Zim huffed, “Who else would it be?”

“I  _ do _ have other friends you know.”

“Name  _ one _ ,” Zim challenged. 

Dib fell silent on the other end of the phone. 

Zim brightened slightly as his “success”, “See? You-”

“You are  _ such _ a fucking dick, Zim!” Dib snapped. 

Zim blinked. Oh  _ fuck _ , he really should have known that that would upset the human, but the thought that he shouldn’t have said that hadn’t even crossed his mind until he heard Dib’s obvious anger. 

“Y’know, if you’re going to cancel on me for the project, the least you could do is call  _ before _ we were supposed to meet to let me know,” Dib hissed, “Do they not have etiquette on your planet, or are you just a prick?”

“I wasn’t calling to tell you that I can’t come,” Zim backtracked. 

Dib paused for a moment, confused, “Then why did you call me?”

“I, er… can’t seem to find your base.”

Dib went quiet for a long moment before a soft chuckle escaped his lips, “You’re  _ lost _ ?”

“I am  _ not _ lost!” Zim defended, voice cracking. 

“You- the ‘great invader’ sent to dominate our entire planet-” Dib was practically wheezing, now. 

“Yeah, yeah-”

“Are  _ lost _ ?” Dib snickered, “You can’t even navigate your way from your base to my home? Didn’t you have to  _ fly _ here on your own?”

“My ship did the navigating on its own,” Zim grumbled. 

“Okay,” Dib’s laughter tapered off, though Zim could tell he was still amused and would likely continue antagonizing him over his stupidity were there not more important things at hand, “Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“Er,” Zim looked around at his surroundings, taking in landmarks, “I’m by a tall building? And some food place.”

After a long moment of silence, Dib spoke, “You are  _ so _ useless, sometimes.”

“The mighty Zim is  _ not _ useless!” Zim snapped, voice rising an octave. 

“Okay, okay. Just, uh, tell me what street you’re on. Try to find a nearby street corner and then read the signs to me.”

“I can do that,” Zim nodded, wandering over to the nearest street corner, “I am at the corner of ‘Glenmore Grove’ and ‘Todd Street’- why did they give this street a traditional human name?”

“I don’t know- because the people who were naming them did a line of coke before deciding?” Dib suggested jokingly, though he sounded somewhat distracted. Distantly, Zim thought he could hear a door close and lock on Dib’s end of the line, “Anyways, how’d you get all the way over there? You’re heading in the opposite way of my house.”

Zim scoffed, “Unlike  _ you _ , I didn’t invade your privacy to learn where your base is.  _ I _ had to be innovative and find my way there on my own.”

“Ah, yes. Waiting for you enemy to  _ give you _ their exact street address. The  _ epitome _ of innovation.”

“At least I didn’t stalk you while you were in pain, Fool-Boy,” Zim defended, “I have  _ class _ .”

“That’s not what I would call it,” Dib muttered, “And it isn’t completely my fault that you didn’t notice me following you- I wasn’t exactly being stealthy.”

“Maybe I  _ wanted _ you to follow me,” Zim said, though it was clear that he was pulling that response out of thin air, “Did you think about  _ that _ , Dib-Thing?”

“If you wanted me to follow you, then why do you keep complaining about it?” Dib deadpanned. 

“I-” Zim stopped. He had him there, “Just hurry up and find me.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m on my way. It shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Good.”

Dib hummed idly, “See ya’ then, Space Boy.”

“One more thing-” Zim cut in before Dib could hang up.

“What is it?”

“I… should not have made the insinuation that you had no companions.”

Dib was quiet for a moment, seemingly taken aback at the almost apology. Zim just kept surprising the boy.  _ Good _ . 

“Oh,” he said finally, “You-”

“Goodbye, now. Hurry up.” Zim hung up his phone and put it away before Dib could finish his thought. 

~~~

The telltale beeping sound of being hung up on was not something that was foreign to Dib, but it still came as a small surprise when the alien cut off their conversation so suddenly. Regardless, he shook it off and continued on his journey to find the stupid alien (really, how did he get  _ lost _ ).

As he made his way to the streetcorner that Zim had reported being on, Dib took out his phone and saved the number that had called him to his contacts. He pondered over what he would put him in as. Dib wasn’t one to just  _ let _ life be boring and almost never put anyone in his contacts with their actual names or titles, usually sticking to stupid nicknames, inside jokes, and insults depending on who they were. After a few moments of thought, Dib decided on the basic name of “Space Boy” with a little alien emoji on either side of the name before shoving his phone back into his pocket. 

Dib had been home for long enough to take a quick shower (he had felt kind of grungy from sleeping in his clothes the night prior) and change into his more casual clothes. Most people would argue that his long trenchcoat was far from “casual” but it was a staple in Dib’s wardrobe and definitely his favourite article of clothing. It was something that he wished he could wear to school on a regular basis rather than the uniforms that were mandatory. His hair was still wet from his shower, leaving his strange hair scythe somewhat droopy from the weight of the water stubbornly clinging to it. 

In all honesty, Dib had been mildly worried that Zim wasn’t going to show up. Him being late had only worsened that concern and Dib would be lying if he claimed that that hadn’t come as a bit of a disappointment to him. Maybe it was because he was beginning to grow attached to the alien (a though that he banished to the back of his mind in that special little place where the dark things hid), or simply because he was growing lonely without the “companionship” working with his peers provided. 

Either way, Dib was relieved that it had just been a mix-up. 

Plus, he found it absolutely  _ hilarious _ that the Irken Invader had managed to get himself lost while making his way to his house. Considering the power the alien always boasted about having, it shouldn’t have been that difficult for him. Hell, some incredibly dedicated fans of his dad could probably find their house (though they  _ definitely _ wouldn’t be able to get any farther than their front yard). 

It wasn’t long before the street corner that the alien had mentioned came into view and, with it, a slightly bewildered-looking Zim.

Dib held up one hand, waving it to catch the other’s attention. 

Immediately, Zim perked up and began making his way over to Dib, meeting him halfway there. 

“So,” Dib began, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face, “How was your walk?”

“Oh shut  _ up _ , Dib-Beast!” Zim glared, and, for a moment, Dib could have  _ sworn _ that Zim’s face took on a slightly magenta hue, “Or I’ll have GIR eat your homework. You know he’ll do it.”

While GIR didn’t seem to be very good at taking orders given to him by anyone- Zim included- DIb didn’t doubt that the little robot would eat his homework if given the chance. 

“Alright, alright,” Dib held up his hands in surrender, “Let’s just go to my house, now, okay? We don’t have as much time, now.”

Zim huffed as they began to walk once more- this time in the correct direction, “It isn’t my fault that your home is impossible to find.”

“It really isn’t that hard to find,” Dib rolled his eyes, “And I never said it was your fault. It’s not like we’re too crunched for time- we’re going to take down those losers no matter what.”

“At least you’re confident in our abilities.”

Dib just hummed in response. 

“So… why did you invite me over?” 

“Oh, uh…” Dib shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his trenchcoat, “No reason. Just… thought it would be good to work there instead. People can’t cheat off us as easily.”

“When I suggested that just days ago, you immediately declined. You shot me down like it was a stupid idea.”

“Well, I decided against that.”

“Mhmm,” Zim didn’t sound like he believed him at all. 

“ _ Fine _ ,” Dib groaned, “Someone  _ may _ have…  _ suggested _ that it would be good for us if I invited you over.”

Zim practically gawked at that, “You’re bringing me to your base because one of those idiots from our school told you to?”

“They didn’t really give me any room for argument!” Dib huffed. 

“Why did they think it would be ‘good for us’ to do this? Just the project.”

“Er… yeah. Just the project.”

“You don’t sound confident in that answer.”

“Well, not all of us are as cocky as you are.”

“No, most of you human’s aren’t, but  _ you _ certainly are.”

Begrudgingly, Dib began to cave, “They said that it would be good for us as…  _ ‘friends’ _ if I trusted you a little bit more. And this seemed like a good first step towards that.”

“You needed one of those dolts at Astra to tell you that?” Zim snickered. 

“Oh, fuck off, Bug Boy. you’d still be lost and wandering the streets right now, if it weren’t for me.”

“For the last time, I WASN’T LOST.”

“Just keep telling yourself that.”

They fell into their bickering back and forth with ease and it felt so natural for them that the other’s words didn’t particularly bother them, even when they hurled insults as they made their way to Dib’s house. 

“Okay, okay.  _ Truce _ .”

“We already  _ have _ a truce.”

“Yeah,  _ that’s  _ working out really well,” Dib’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “A different truce.”

“I’m listening.”

“We drop the fact that we’re hanging out because the fucking school  _ therapist-”  _ Dib practically cringed as he said it- “Told me to, and I never bring up that you have zero sense of direction. Sound fair?”

“Mmm, fair enough,” Zim hummed, “But that ‘not trusting people’ thing you have going on really could get in the way of our partnership and we aren’t going to get anywhere if-”

“You seriously agree with Mr. Elliot?”

“In that sense? I suppose,” Zim mused, “Just because it could be a hindrance if we ever truly join forces and fully become allies. It could get in the way.”

“And you’re not knowing basic navigation skills could get in the way,” Dib countered, “Just drop it for now, okay? We can talk about emotional, sentimental shit some other time if you  _ really _ want to, just not right now.”

Zim seemed to finally concede, though he still looked somewhat uncertain. Still, he didn’t try to argue with him over it or bring it up again, so Dib didn’t worry about it. Besides, they had their project to worry about, for now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t plan on the “Zim Being Lost” thing to take up almost an entire chapter on its own, but I got on a roll and here we are, I suppose.


	14. This is Home

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the doorstep of a large, strangely somewhat shaped house. The paint job of the building was far duller than Zim’s was, consisting of primarily grey-ish blues and purples aside from the bright red of the front door. Dib didn’t give Zim much time to examine the place from the outside, though, before unlocking the door and tugging it open for the alien to go in. 

Without hesitation, Zim headed into Dib’s house, darting in quickly as though Dib would change his mind at any second and throw him out. Despite the fact that Dib seemed amused by Zim’s actions, Zim thought that his concern was a valid one.

Once inside, Dib made a wide, all-encompassing gesture with his arms, “So… this is home.”

Zim followed the gesture, taking everything in. Their house reminded him of his own base, in several ways. Most appliance that were considered normal for humans had been replaced in the household by strange machines. While there was a distinct lack of web-like wires on the ceiling as there was in Zim’s own lair, Dib’s home  _ did _ have wires climbing the sides of the walls and snaking their way along through the house- though there were far fewer than in Zim’s. They even had their own strange oven-like robot wearing a chef’s hat! 

A hum of approval escaped Zim’s throat. While their bases had several glaring differences, he could clearly see that he had, at the very least, constructed a believable base!

The sound of Dib clearing his throat from across the room snapped Zim from his thoughts, “Do you want to work on the project or just stare at my house like a creep?”

“I’ll do what I want, Worm Baby.”

Dib scrunched up his nose at the nickname, but he didn’t seem surprised in the slightest. Zim supposed that even humans could pick up on patterns, eventually. 

“If you actually want us to do  _ well _ on this project, then I suggest you stop gawking at everything and come  _ work _ on it.”

Zim narrowed his eyes at the human sharply but complied nonetheless. The DIb  _ did _ have a point, though. As fantastic as they both were and as confident as Zim was in the two of them, they wouldn’t get anywhere if they didn’t make some progress on the project at hand. Besides, if they  _ really _ wanted to blow away the school board and both impress and infuriate their peers- a prospect that both of them found appealing for incredibly different reasons- they would actually have to  _ do _ something. 

“Fine. Let’s go.”

With a nod, Dib gestured for Zim to follow him. He led the alien up a flight of curving stairs and into a dark room with several windows. If Dib didn’t seem so anxious to get started on their work, Zim would have taken more time to just soak everything in and examine every corner of the room. Unlike his own base, the segment of Dib’s base that he seemed to have deemed his sleeping quarters was incredibly full with several posters and paintings covering the walls and faintly glowing stars and planets arranged on the ceiling of the room. 

Zim didn’t allow himself to look around for too long, though, before he began to busy himself with work. 

They set up their work area on the wooden floor of Dib’s room, spreading textbooks, notebooks, and pieces of paper around in their area to create a cohesive flow of their work. It wasn’t long before they fell into a comfortable pattern with their efforts, each taking on their self-assigned duties for the project. It was a nice flow that they developed, staying mostly quiet with focus aside from the discussions they had about the actual content of the project. 

After a long time of them each concentrating on their own things, Zim had focused so much of his mental power on what he was doing that it took his a few moments to notice that Dib was emitting a strange noise. 

Under his wig, Zim’s antennae twitched with interest, perking up slightly despite their restraints in an attempt to pick up on the subtle noises that the human was making. It was an odd purring noise from deep in the Dib’s throat and it was so quiet that Zim had to wonder whether or not Dib even realized what he was doing. 

Dib’s eyes flickered up to meet Zim’s, eyebrows drawing together. The sound stopped, “What?”

Zim tilted his head, “What was that noise you were just making? Was it some sort of signal to your kind?” Perhaps it was some facet of their language that Zim had yet to discover. 

“What? No- I mean, I guess in some ways it  _ can _ be, but it’s not that deep,” Dib shook his head, “It’s called ‘humming’ and it’s just something that humans do sometimes.”

Zim squinted. It seemed strange for them to have another language that meant nothing. “Does it signify anything?”

“Sometimes, but not always.”

“And just now?”

“Did it mean anything when I was doing it just now?” Dib echoed. 

Zim rolled his eyes, “ _ Yes _ , Fool-Boy, did it  _ mean _ anything.”

“Well, if you’re going to be a dick about it, I’m not going to tell you anything,” Dib huffed, though his “threat” seemed empty, “It didn’t really mean anything. I didn’t even notice that I was doing it until you pointed it out. So, no.”

“It seems like a strange ritual,” Zim mused.

“Do Irkens do something similar?” Dib asked, setting aside his pencil and giving Zim his full attention (Zim couldn’t help the twinge of appreciation he felt at the fact that that Dib was focusing on  _ him _ ). 

“Yes, in some ways, I suppose. Some aspects of our language sound similar to that ‘humming’ you were doing, though it usually isn’t as melodic.”

“For us, humming is sort of singing a song without actually singing it.”

“Eh?” Zim quirked a false eyebrow. 

“You know,  _ music _ ,” Dib gave him a pointed look, “Or do they not have music on your planet.”

“Of  _ course _ we have music,” Zim defended, “But, erm, what does  _ human _ music sound like.”

With a roll of his eyes, Dib stood up and made his way over to the computer that sat atop his desk, several monitors attached to it all displaying different space-themed backgrounds. On one of the monitors, Dib opened up a page and began quickly typing something. The moment the sound of keys clicking ceased, a new sound began. 

The sound that flower through the speakers of the Dib’s computer was strange. Despite the fact that Zim recognized all fo the words to be English, they were spoken in such a way that it sounded almost like a different language entirely. There were other sounds in the background, overlapping with one another and with the sounds of the voices as the music continued. 

It truly was incredibly different from the other types of music he had heard from across the universe- though Zim did have to admit that he hadn’t been exposed to much music over the course of his lifetime. Aside from the anthem that went along with the Armada, most Irkens knew very little about music unless they travelled to another planet and heard it there (though sight-seeing and learning about that planet’s music was  _ far _ from the top of their priorities when they  _ were _ there). 

Zim didn’t notice how entranced he must have looked until he noticed Dib staring at him with a small smirk playing across his features. 

Quickly, Zim schooled his own expression, forcing his widened his ocular to return to their normal state and trying to take on a more casual posture once more. This only went to make Dib laugh even more, though. 

Just as Zim was preparing to hurl some defensive threat towards the human for mocking him, the sound of the door to the room being thrown open cut him off. 

“Son, I think-” the voice of the new human standing in the doorway stopped abruptly as the taller one seemed to take notice of Zim, “Oh. Hello. You must be one of Dib’s friends.”

Zim could sense Dib tensing up the moment his supposed parental unit entered the room. Despite Zim instincts telling him to respect this human before him based off of his stature alone, Dib’s sudden unease in his presence overpowered Zim. 

“Yes, I  _ am _ ,” Zim couldn’t quite tell why, but his voice was clipped, coming off more protective than he had intended. 

“Dad, this is Zim.”

Dib’s father opened his mouth as if to say something but Dib cut him off quickly. 

“He’s here to work on that project for school. Remember, the maths one that we were talking about?” There was a hint of bitterness to his tone, though Zim couldn’t quite place why. 

“Oh!” the man’s demeanour changed entirely as he heard that explanation, “That’s wonderful to hear, Son!”

Once more, Dib didn’t give him the chance to continue talking, “Yeah. We’re a little bit busy right now, though, so…” He trailed off, clearly hoping his father would take the hint and leave. 

“Ah, of course. Well, I’ll leave you two to it!” Dib’s father seemed shockingly enthused over the fact that the two of them were working on the project and, in all honesty, it threw Zim off. Dib did fantastic in school, so why did he seem so… relieved and shocked? Before he left the room, he shot Zim one last look, nodding at him, “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Once the door was securely shut behind him, Dib let out a sigh and shut off his music. When he returned to their makeshift workplace, he seemed slightly irked but said nothing, instead just going back to his work and completely ignoring Zim. 

This was his chance! This was the perfect opportunity for Zim to speak to Dib and give the human a safe space to open up to him in, just like in the shows GIR and him had been watching (those programs were  _ terrible _ , but at least they gave him  _ some _ insight on how to deal with winning over humans). 

“I take it you and your…  _ progenitor _ are not very close.”

Dib let out a snort but didn’t look up from the paper he was beginning to scribble on once more, “You could say that.”

“Would you care to talk about it?”

_ That _ caught Dib’s attention. He looked up at Zim and squinted at him suspiciously, “Listen, you don’t have to let me bare my soul to you just because you want us to be allies or whatever. We’re fine already. You don’t have to try to be nice to me or whatever just because you think that’s what you have to do because it’s ‘normal’.”

“If I didn’t  _ want _ to listen to your idiotic human drama, I wouldn’t  _ ask _ ,” Zim countered. 

Dib remained silent. 

With a sigh, Zim continued, “I cannot relate to this particular problem of yours, but I can see how that would be…  _ painful _ for you.”

Dib’s eyes flickered up to look at Zim, though he was still writing slowly. 

“I am incredibly close to my higher-ups and they trust me a great deal- I am one of their most beloved Invaders. I cannot imagine how horrible it would be if I lost their respect.”

Dib seemed to think about that for a long moment, “Do you worry that that will change? That you’ll do something wrong and lose their love and trust forever?”

Zim was about to deny it but stopped himself just short of doing so. If he wanted to get anywhere with Dib, he  _ had _ to be honest with him. Begrudgingly, he forced himself to admit it, “Yes, I do. I am under an incredible amount of pressure to succeed at my mission. I… do not know what I would do if a disappointed them.”

Dib frowned, eyes softening with some sort of realization, “I feel the same way with my dad. I feel as though there’s nothing that I can do that’s good enough for him. I try  _ so hard _ to make him proud but… he just doesn’t  _ care _ . He doesn’t even give me the time of day- especially when it has to do with the investigation of space and the paranormal- my  _ actual _ passions.”

“That must be terrible…” Zim’s mind wandered to a dark, painful place that he had only visited on rare occasions. The place in which The Tallests lost all faith in him and banished him for his failures against the entire Armada. The place in which he was no longer useful to them. The very thought wracked his body with a shiver. 

“You have my sympathies, Dib,” and, for once, he truly meant it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I wrote this... it felt like I was unintentionally writing in a slightly different style? If that is the case and it threw you off, I sincerely apologize. I have been having a difficult time reading this week (and have been incredibly out of it, in general).


	15. He Doesn't Believe You

It wasn’t too long before Zim left to head back to his own home, leaving Dib with his father and sister. Despite the fact that they had gotten through so much of their work and had made  _ amazing _ progress, Dib felt... strange about the entire interaction. He felt as though something was  _ off _ . Like something had gone horribly wrong- or incredibly right. The afternoon had left his insides twisted into strange, intricate knots that made him think. It wasn’t that he was unused to what he was experiencing, but it was just  _ slightly different _ from his typical feelings. 

Dib assumed that his feelings were a product of willingly allowing the enemy to infiltrate his place of safety, but something deep within him told him that there was something more to it than that. 

Perhaps it was due to the fact that Dib had opened up to Zim. That could have been dangerous for him to do! It’s never good for your enemy to know about the intimate parts of your life- the things that you even hate about yourself or the weaknesses you have that they have yet to discover on their own. It had been foolish for DIb to tell him anything in the first place. 

No, that wasn’t completely it, either…

The revolting, nauseated feeling deep within him increased as it slowly dawned on him that Dib had felt  _ better _ after talking to Zim about everything. It had been nice to finally open up to someone and be honest to them, even if he didn’t tell him much. 

It shouldn’t feel  _ nice _ and  _ right _ to tell your enemy about your daddy issues!

What was  _ wrong _ with Dib. 

With a heavy sigh, Dib leaned his forehead against the door before him, the quiet, dull this of his gargantuan skull against the wood strangely satisfying and calming to Dib.

“Son?”

The feeling of a hand resting gently on Dib’s shoulder had him nearly jumping out of his skin, startled by the sudden touch dragging him from his own mind. 

Quickly, Dib turned around, coming face-to-face with his father. The Professor held up his hands in surrender, taking a step back so as to not scare his spooked son.

Dib’s muscles relaxed, “Uh, hey, Dad.”

“It seems as though you and that little foreign kid are getting along better, now,” Dib didn’t miss the hopeful twinge in his father’s voice. 

Dib crossed his arms over his chest, wrapping his arms around himself in a small hug as though he were trying to protect himself from his father’s inevitable disappointment, “You could see that.”

“Listen, Dib,” Membrane paused, floundering for the correct words, “I’m really proud of you for getting over this silly obsession with aliens and the paranormal and being able to focus on  _ important _ things. You’re finally making friends!”

Dib sank his teeth into his lower lip, holding back the words he wanted to say. 

“It’s fantastic that you’re finally getting your life in order and paying attention to the right things,” Membrane wrapped his arms around his son, pulling him in for a hug, “I really am proud of you, Son.”

Dib wrapped his arms around his father as well and leaned into the hug. The spark of happiness that flared up at the simple act of affection finally proved to Dib just how touch-starved and desperate he was for approval. 

Voice barely a whisper, so quiet that Dib had no clue whether or not his father would even hear him, he admitted something, _ “I wish… you were always proud of me.” _

Membrane faltered viscerally and Dib tensed, suspecting the worst to come from that. 

“I  _ am _ proud of you,” his feather pulled back, sorrow-filled eyes meeting Dib’s own, “I’ve always been proud of you.”

“N-no, you  _ haven’t _ ,” Dib felt his throat beginning to close up slightly, his eyes stinging lightly with the overwhelming need to cry- to finally allow everything that had been building up inside him out after years of holding it back, “You’re only proud of me when I’m following in your footsteps and…  _ pretending _ . You aren’t proud of  _ me _ \- you’re proud of the things I do to make you happy.”

Membrane deflated, shoulders slumping as he heard his son speak, “That’s not true-”

“Yes, it  _ is _ ,” Dib insisted, “Just earlier this week you made that blatantly obvious. You’re only proud of me when I’m completely ignoring and hiding my actual passions. You care about me only when I’m pretending to be something I’m not.”

“Dib…”

“ _ No _ !” Dib snapped, feeling himself tear up slightly with the force of his anger and woe, “You always tell me that my interests aren’t of any value. I’m just not good enough for you unless I’m a perfect clone of you, am I?”

Membrane kneeled down to be at his son’s height, gently resting one hand on Dib’s shoulder, “I have  _ always _ been proud of you and that will  _ never _ change.” He hesitated for a moment as he searched for the right words, “I may not… understand your strange obsession, but it doesn’t change  _ anything _ . I still love you and I’m still incredibly proud of you.”

“Well, it doesn’t feel like it,” Dib screwed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath to stabilize himself.

“I know I don’t always make it clear… but it  _ is _ true.”

~~~

Zim felt just as strange as Dib had when he returned to his own base. He was still slightly surprised that Dib had even opened up yo him in the first place and, now that he had met the Dib-Father, a lot of things about the human were beginning to make sense. The passion with which the human used against Zim when they were still pinned against one another was almost definitely an attempt to make his father proud of him (something that Zim could understand completely, even if he  _ did _ have a better relationship with the Tallests than Dib had with the man who acted as the source of his genetic material). How well Dib did in school despite being quite obviously uninterested in several of his classes made sense as well, now, even from the small amount of data Zim was able to gather from the interaction. 

Truly, Zim’s heart- well “heart”, Irken’s organ systems were incredibly different than that of a human’s- went out to Dib. It was clear that how his father viewed him was the driving force behind a lot of Dib’s actions. In many ways, it was incredibly reminiscent of how Zim’s relationship with his Tallests was. Zim- as well as all of Irken kind- existed exclusively to serve the Tallests. They were  _ programmed _ to listen to them and live their lives only so that they could bring pride and success to the Armada. 

Despite the fact that it didn’t seem as though that was how it worked for the majority of humans, that was certainly how it was for Dib. 

Zim and Dib were both just trying their hardest to make their higher-ups proud- to be a success in the eyes of those they looked up to the most. 

The more that Zim learned about Dib, the more he saw that they weren’t so different as they had initially thought. In several ways, they were very similar people. The more Zim learned about their similarities, the more Zim cared about the Dib and the more he enjoyed the human’s company.

He could sympathize with dib more than he could before. That… complicated things.

More importantly, though, Zim was beginning to feel conflicted about his mission to conquer Earth. He had decided long ago that, as long as Dib allowed him to, he would join forces with the human and protect him from the aggressive forces of the Irken Armada. Now that he had met the Dib-Father, though, it was abundantly clear that he wouldn’t be able to let anything horrible befall him, either. Despite the rocky relationship that Dib and his father  _ clearly _ had, it was also obvious that Dib wanted their relationship to heal- something that he couldn’t accomplish if his father was killed or enslaved by the Armada. 

It was a bit of a stretch, but, perhaps Zim would be able to take Dib’s entire family with him and offer them all protection? The Dib-Father was clearly an intelligent human being (even if that wasn’t the case when it came to his spawn), and the Dib-Sister was… vaguely terrifying. They could all, theoretically, be fantastic assets to the Irken Armada. 

The question was, though not of if Zim could take them along but of whether or not the Armada would allow it. 

Typically, when the Armada conquered, they didn’t allow those inhabiting the planets they destroyed to join forces with them. Usually, they were either killed or enslaved and Zim couldn’t think of a single time that the Irken Armada had accepted a “less race” into their ranks. One human he could certainly get away with but any more? He was sure his Tallests would see him a coward and a weakling if he was soft for so many humans… 

Zim groaned heavily, dragging a clawed hand through the synthetic fibres of his wig before pulling it off completely. This human demanded  _ so much _ effort of his. He certainly wasn’t going to let that discourage him, though. The Tallests loved and respected him and he was certain that, as long as he was careful about how he approached the problem, they would allow him to keep all three of the humans. 

He would work things out and everything would be  _ just fine _ . 

And, hey, if Dib and his father couldn’t repair their relationship then Zim had no problem with killing him off and just taking Gaz and Dib along with him- that would certainly simplify things. 

He wouldn’t make that decision without Dib, though- he  _ couldn’t _ . The human was far too precious to him to do that. 

They would figure out what they would do eventually and everything would work out, one way or another. He wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to Dib- especially at the hands of the Armada. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but oh well.
> 
> I almost entitled this "What the Fuck" because I didn't know what to name it-
> 
> I... also almost cried over this chapter because my computer did a bitch move and didn't save my progress for the story despite saying that it had. I recovered it, but that was a very tense time.


	16. Dib's FIRE Mixtape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was... unnecessarily music-centric, but here you go.
> 
> I wrote this while tired, so be warned.

The day after Dib and Zim’s meeting went by rather quickly, as far as Zim was concerned. He spent the school day pondering how he was going to handle world domination alongside Dib in between paying attention to his  _ actual _ classes. As much as Zim would prefer to focus entirely on his plans for the Dib as well as the Armada, there was no way he would be able to stay in school- and, thus, in contact with Dib- if he didn’t continue to do well in his classes (much to his dismay).

Thankfully, his  _ superior _ Irken intellect allowed him to get through his classes fairly easily and still dedicate time to letting his mind wander to his plans for the near future. 

Throughout the day, he was slightly more out of it than usual considering he was still thinking- not  _ worrying _ , Zim wasn’t  _ worried _ \- about the human and their future in regards to the planet and the Armada, only checking back into reality when absolutely necessary. There was  _ one thing _ , however, that snapped Zim fully back into the world of the waking. 

And that thing,  _ shockingly _ , took place during his chemical engineering class. 

Zim had been staring out the window before class started, mulling over his options for the future when he heard Dib take his seat down beside him- a noise and sensation that Zim had grown accustomed to considering how familiar it had become over the weeks. 

Dib fully pulled Zim out of his own mind, though, when he placed something in the centre of their table.

Zim’s eyes flicked away from the window to focus on the thing Dib has set down. Carefully, he plucked it off the smooth surface, holding it aloft with his claws as he examined it, eyes squinted. It appeared to be some thin, circular piece of flimsy metal slipped into a plastic protective case. The thing within the case itself looked almost like a completely flat doughnut made of shimmering metal.

“Eh?” Zim tilted his head, “What is this?”

“It’s a CD,” Dib explained, “I didn’t know whether or not you had a CD player, but I figured you’d find a way to make it work either way.”

“What does it  _ do _ ?”

“You remember the music I shared with you yesterday?” 

Zim nodded, allowing his mind to briefly slip back to their moment in Dib’s room, peaceful and surrounded by strange sounds and the feeling of their friendship. That moment was the very thing that had inspired the thoughts that demanded the majority of his attention and care that day. Of  _ course  _ he remembered. 

“Well, CDs can play music. This is a mixtape of sorts- I filled it with a couple of different songs that I like and thought you might. I don’t really know what your taste in music is like, so I chose a few songs from a couple different genres so you could experience some different stuff.” Dib rubbed at the back of his neck almost bashfully, “It’s not super long because I didn’t want it to be boring, but, here it is.”

Zim continued to levelly meet Dib’s gaze for a few moments before looking back at the pieces of Earthen technology in his hands. 

Despite what he had heard at Dib’s house, there wasn’t much that Zim knew about music. Regardless, he had picked up on the fact that it had a great impact on many humans. 

Zim decided then and there that he would learn more about the importance of music that night. If what Dib had gifted him meant anything of significance, he would discover what that was soon. 

“Thank you, Dib-Thing.”

“It’s whatever.”

The shrieking sound of the school bell signifying that class had officially begun rang out, cutting their conversation short. Both of them continued to feel the lingering effects of it, though. 

~~~

Upon arriving at his base, Zim immediately headed into his labs in the basement, GIR trailing alongside him with enthusiasm that matched Zim’s own (and surpassed it within seconds considering what an easily excitable creature the robot was). 

Despite the fact that Irken technology was far superior to Earthen technology in several ways, Zim  _ was _ able to find something among his various belongings and creations that was compatible with the CD that Dib had given him. It took only a few moments (and a bit of alteration) to get the “mixed tape” up and running, the music flowing through the speakers.

The tune that filled Zim’s head was jaunty and electric. Despite it not being a song he was familiar with, there was something about the song that felt like home- like a memory. 

He supposed that was either because the song was about space and traversing the universe or the fact that he already associated Dib with the song. 

Although Zim had gone into his base planning on listening to the music with a critical ear, looking at it from a research standpoint to discover what Dib was trying to tell him, he ended up completely losing himself to the sound of the music. 

Just as Dib had said, the music varied from song to song. Every time that Zim though he had discovered a pattern in the sounds, the pattern he had established was broken. Usually, that came as nothing but a nuisance. Here, though, Zim found it exciting- welcoming, even. 

It wasn’t until after Zim had listened to the entire mixtape that he realized that he hadn’t been paying attention to them in the way he had been planning on. He had entirely dismissed his initial mission in favour of just enjoying the music and thinking about the stories behind them.

With a thoughtful hum, Zim replayed the songs, setting them in the background to play quietly as he focused on commencing his own research. 

“Computer! What can you tell me about music?”

Computer beeping to life quietly, seeming unimpressed by the Irken’s request, “You want to learn about music?”

“ _ Yes. _ ” Zim hissed, “Now, tell me what it is!”

“It is a sequence of varying sounds created by vocals and/or instruments to create a cohesive noise.”

“No, no, that’s not what I mean,” Zim shook his head, ignoring Computer’s sigh, “What does it  _ mean _ ? What does music mean?”

“It seems humans use it to express their emotions, represent the best and worst parts of their lives, and communicate their inner thoughts.”

“So… it’s a personal thing, then, yes?”

“I don’t know why your human gave that to you.”

“But do you  _ think _ it was an intimate gesture? Is sharing music for those who are close to one another?”

“Yep!” GIR chimed in, “In them romance stories on the TV, people share music with their best friends and their boyfriends!”

Zim turned his attention to the small robot before him, “This could be seen as a sign of our relationship, then? It could be a personal thing?”

“Mhmm!”

“Interesting…”

Perhaps Zim was looking too far into the moment they had shared and the thing that Dib had given him- it was only a piece of scrap metal, after all- but it did truly feel as though there was something more to it. He felt like these past few days were defining moments in their growing friendship. To him, those days meant that Dib was slowly opening up to him and coming round to the idea of coexisting with him. 

To Zim, it  _ felt _ important. 

~~~

It wasn’t long before Dib’s next meeting with Mr. Elliot rolled around, and, unsurprisingly, he ended up spending the majority of the session discussing Zim and their most recent encounters with one another. 

“How did your meeting the other day go? Were thinks okay at your place?”

“Yeah. We made a lot of progress on our project.”

“Good, that’s good,” Mr. Elliot nodded, “But, more importantly, did you feel  _ safe _ allowing him into your house?”

“Honestly… yeah. It wasn’t as bad as I had expected. It was a little awkward, but we were fine- I was fine.” Plus Zim had gotten himself so lost while finding Dib’s house that him breaking in and catching Dib unawares didn’t seem like much of a possibility. 

“Good! Do you think you made progress on anything else aside from the project? Did you two play card games, or watch movies, or anything?”

“Well, we were focusing on the project, so…” Dib trailed off, avoiding the question.

“When you  _ weren’t _ working on it, though,” Mr. Elliot corrected, “Did you talk about anything else?”

“I played some music for him.”

“Yeah?” He gestured for Dib to continue talking. 

“Zim doesn’t-” Dib cut himself off before rephrasing, carefully avoiding revealing the whole truth, “Zim hadn’t heard a lot of the music that I like, so I shared some of it with him.”

Mr. Elliot smiled slightly, clearly pleased with that. 

“I actually ended up making him a mixtape with a few musical recommendations, too.”

“Sharing music is a pretty good start to a friendship,” he pointed out, “You can share things without really having to commit to talking to them about it. It’s not as scary.”

“That’s  _ not _ why I did it.”

“I wasn’t saying it was.”

“It was implied.”

Mr. Elliot chuckled, “Either way, it’s really good that you two took this step in making things right. I’m proud of you for doing this. I think this will be really good for you.”

The moment Mr. Elliot claimed that he was “proud” of him, Dib felt his stomach twist into knots. It wasn’t a phrase that Dib heard frequently, but the fact that he had heard it just a few days ago under… unideal circumstances made him immediately tense up with discomfort. The memories flooded back to him, souring his previously decent mood.

“Yeah, well, I have to get to class, now.” DIb quickly turned his attention away from the therapist, grabbing his backpack to leave. 

Mr. Elliot frowned, clearly picking up on the distress that DIb knew he must be practically radiating by then, but didn’t stop him as he made his escape. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a link to the mixtape if you’re interested. I was mildly worried that I wasn’t getting Dib’s taste in music wrong. Oops. Dib’s description of the mixtape is basically accurate to what I was doing while making it. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzTAiHJZCkaQGXoPxlQZ_UMBiySVgC5ah


	17. "Dealers"

Dib and Zim knew that they still had plenty of time to get their project done. Regardless, they decided to do their best to schedule more frequent meet-ups for them to work on it together. Considering the fact that the both of them could easily distract the other and their conversations would likely end up devolving into taunting banter about world domination or whatever the _hell_ had happened last time they meet up, they figured meeting more frequently would be beneficial. At least, that way, they could get more done, even if they ended up distracting one another- or, in the case of being at Zim’s base, being distracted by _GIR_.

It was strange how much Dib found himself looking forward to seeing Zim whenever they decided to meet up to work on their project. In fact, most days, Dib found himself rushing through his homework and working especially hard to finish whatever he could of it during school hours so that they had more time to spend together working on it. He wasn’t slacking in his other classes in any way, but he was definitely focusing on his project a _little_ more thank he was on his regular classes, but not to an incredibly strange extent- most of his peers were doing the same thing! Maybe his bit of sudden “passion” was a bit unwarranted but not completely by any means! If he did well, he would happily crush his peers beneath his boots (a _delicious_ thought), make his father proud, and stand out to universities.

Still, it felt like he was more enthused about their project than was warranted for something so simple. 

Regardless, many days, Dib found himself looking forward to meeting up with Zim to work on their project when he was caged up in a particularly boring or stressful class. On days that dragged by almost endlessly, it was at least one thing that he could look forward to. At the very least, he knew that working with Zim in any capacity could never be boring. Things with Zim were pretty consistently action-packed and interesting, even if they weren’t fighting one another to the death- or attempting to- every five seconds. 

It was kind of nice. 

_Another_ bonus to him and Zim teaming up for this was the fact that, now, all of the other students who usually relied on him for help or were hoping to go to Zim for help were left completely stranded for the project. The project was already an incredibly stressful thing for several students, but, now that they _knew_ that neither Zim nor he would offer them any help, they seemed a bit more worried. Dib knew for a _fact_ that some of them would be completely lost without him and, honestly, it made him feel _amazing_. He knew that it was cruel, but seeing them suffer like this, even if it was minor, made him feel better about everything that had happened over his years at that Godforsaken school. 

They may have dethroned Dib, but, now, they were suffering the consequences of a crumbling nation and Dib was enjoying his view of his once strong kingdom burning to the ground.

Perhaps he was being a _tad_ dramatic, but, hey, he deserved it! Things had been really difficult for him once everyone had turned on him and things still weren’t perfect in any way, but, at least he got to enjoy watching them suffer and struggle a little bit. 

“Struggle” seemed to be the perfect word to describe what was going on with them. 

While it wasn’t exactly “cheating”, several students were working with people outside of their partnership to try and get help with their project and some were even doing so without the other participant’s consent (which _was_ considered cheating). 

Others tried to find online resources to help them along, though it wasn’t very helpful, considering the answers weren’t easily available online. If anyone wanted to get anything incredibly helpful, they would have to dig into the deep, dark depths of the internet to discover it. 

Some students were even taking some drugs and medication not prescribed to them in an attempt to help them focus on their work and get through it more efficiently. It was… a little more worrying than amusing, but Dib didn’t really care what horrible decisions his peers made- it was their body, so he didn’t worry about what they were doing with it (even if the “dealers” at their school _were_ incredibly sketchy). 

The so-called “dealers” at Astra Academy weren’t typical drug dealers in _any way_ and Dib wouldn’t even really consider them dealers. They weren’t exactly _stealthy_ when they made their deals, always too nervous and jumpy to pull it off completely without looking suspicious in any way. It was obvious that their knowledge of the drugs they gave was limited to what they read in books or off the internet rather than any personal information they gathered from using it themselves (which DIb supposed was fair). 

Most interestingly was the fact that these “dealers” seemed to only pop up when something incredibly stressful was happening at their school. Despite the fact that Astra Academy was _always_ stressful, they only seemed to come up every once in a blue moon and only stayed for a brief amount of time before disappearing into the background once more, melting away into anonymity. If shitty high school movies on Netflix were any indication, Dib assumed that his school had _way_ less of a drug-dealing issue than most schools did. 

_That_ wasn’t what was important, though. What was _important_ was the fact that Dib knew personally that one of the kids on the school paper had been dealing some of her elder brother’s medication to the other kids. Even _more_ important was the fact that she was one of the people who had been particularly rude to him about the whole Zim ordeal. 

Despite the fact that he and Zim were getting along somewhat well, now, and were forming a fairly decent relationship, Dib couldn’t help but be bitter about what had happened. He had been at the top of the social hierarchy at their school, dominating the food chain and keeping himself safe and content at school in the process. It may have been a lot of power that he had over some of the other students, but it allowed him to go through the halls of Astra without having to worry about superficial things that he almost definitely would have needed to worry about in almost any other school. Things had completely changed and, while he wasn’t at the bottom of the food chain, he wasn’t as well off as he had once been. He didn’t like the power, respect, and trust that he had lost. He had a _right_ to be a little upset about what they had done. 

It was this bitterness that drove Dib’s thoughts about turning her in to the headmaster. 

It wasn’t like it was the worst thing Dib could do. Hell, he had done _far_ worse things to people as revenge just in that year alone. Ratting her out to the dean was _nothing_. 

It was a tempting thought, but not one that he allowed to linger in his mind for long. The bell signifying the end of the school day dragged him from his vague ideas about revenge plots, redirecting his attention to what he would be doing after school: walking with Zim to his base to work on their project. 

~~~

Zim couldn’t help but brighten slightly as he spotted Dib. Considering the fact that Zim had gone through training while with the Armada that taught him the majority of the things he was learning there in far more depth (aside from things he learned in history class, though that was another story), most of the classes were a bore to the alien. Of course, he did care about school at least a _little_. If he didn’t continue to work hard and get amazing grades, he would lose his “scholarship” and wouldn’t be allowed to attend Astra Academy. Zim didn’t know if he and Dib’s relationship was strong enough for it to survive a hit like that. 

Still, it came as a bit of a relief to Zim to finally see his human counterpart. 

While Zim still held a decent amount of contempt towards the Dib-father because of Dib’s obviously poor relationship with the man, he had found himself thinking about him the past couple of days, or, more accurately, he and Dib’s relationship. 

Considering the taller, cybernetic man clearly cared about education and how well Dib did in school, them doing well on this project would almost certainly make him proud of his son. Maybe, if they did well enough, the pride the Dib-father felt for his son would clear his mind enough for them to begin to work through some of their issues. If Dib could prove to him his worth, perhaps they would be able to fix things. 

If Zim could assist in the process of helping his Dib mend his relationship with his parental unit, Dib would almost certainly agree to join him and the Armada!

Plus, as much as Zim hated to admit it, he truly wanted to make Dib happy and it seemed as though this would be a good way to achieve such a thing. As strange as it was for _any_ Irken- let alone Zim, one of the Armada’s finest Invaders- he couldn’t help but feel happy when Dib was happy. Perhaps it was something that happened on Earth- humans unintentionally sharing their emotions through residual emotional “leakage”. 

Somehow, though, Zim doubted that was the case. He liked to pretend that he wasn’t as emotional about the human as he actually was, though. 

Zim and Dib exchanged a smile as they drew closer to one another. 

Even if Dib and the source of his genetic material couldn’t form a good relationship once more, Zim was certain that things would be okay. They would figure something out and Zim would do everything he could in the situation to ensure Dib’s happiness. 

Maybe he was being slightly over-emotional, but he couldn’t help it. He took him and Dib’s allyship very seriously- he had to if he wanted to successfully complete his mission and make his Tallests happy. Dib could definitely stand between him and bringing pride to his kind if it came down to it.

Zim knew that his feelings about the situation went beyond just strategy, but he pushed those thoughts away.

“Ready to go?”

Dib hummed, fumbling with his phone as they made their way out of the school. After a moment, a song began flowing through the speakers of his phone, playing a quiet melody that could be heard easily by either of them but wouldn’t drown out their voices during discussion. It had become a bit of a “tradition” of sorts for the two of them. While they made their way to one of their homes to work on their project, Dib would put music on in the back while they talked about whatever it was they felt about discussing. It was partially so that the human could share new music with his alien friend and part to ward off the awkwardness of a lull in the conversation (though, the more time they spent together, the less that awkward silence seemed to befall them). 

“You look like you have something on your mind.” It wasn’t really a question, but it was easily an invitation for Dib to talk about whatever it was if he wanted to. 

“You know how some of the kids at school are selling one another enhancers for the project?”

“Eh?” Zim asked. He had been so focused on other things recently that he hadn’t really noticed, “We can do that?”

“Legally? No,” Dib explained, “But some of the kids have been doing so and, one of them, is _sort of_ someone I have a grudge against.”

“Ah…” Zim didn’t know what that meant. 

Dib rolled his eyes, “She’d get in serious trouble if anyone on the school board found out about it. Honestly? I’m really tempted to rat her out just so I can get her in trouble and make her pay.”

“Do you believe she deserves that?”

“Kind of? I’m not sure,” Dib shrugged, “I’m probably overreacting by being mad at her in the first place, but it would be _really_ satisfying to take her down.”

“Hmm…” it was Zim turn to hum thoughtfully. He was definitely no stranger to revenge and he had a feeling that Dib wasn’t either. Besides, Zim didn’t really care whether or not he was hurting others when doing what he needed to- collateral damage was no stranger to any Irken. 

Plus, it gave Zim an opportunity.

"Do you think you will do it?"

"I'm not sure, yet," Dib admitted. 

"I will help if you do."

Even if he couldn’t fix Dib’s relationship with his father, there were, perhaps, other ways for him to bring joy to his human. He just had to find them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was absolutely exhausted when I was writing this, so I'm not sure if it's actually good? My brain feels scrambled. LKSJdlksdjf.  
> Moka, if this is shit, I am 100% willing to delete or re-write this.


	18. Eyes and Antennae

Dib wouldn’t say that he was the  _ most _ jaded person at their school, but he was definitely someone who became suspicious when people offered things that sounded too good to be true. He was  _ especially _ doubtful when the person giving him a nice offer was the same person who was attempting to overthrow his entire planet and take Dib with him.

“...you’re really willing to do that to her? You’re willing to potentially get someone completely expelled from our school, even if it doesn’t benefit you in  _ any _ way?”

Dib didn’t think he was being paranoid by wondering this. Zim  _ was _ an alien and, while their partnership was pretty innocent at the moment with them mostly just working on their project and talking about random shit, he knew that, were this to all work out ideally for Zim, this would only be phase one. The only reason they had formed an allyship was because Zim didn’t want Dib to be in his way. He could easily explain any and all of Zim’s seemingly kind actions towards him as Zim just being smart with his war strategies. As kind as Zim  _ seemed _ to be towards the human, Dib knew that he was just a pawn in the alien’s plan.

Zim let out an exasperated sigh, “Yes, we are  _ allies _ , Dib-Thing.”

“Just because we’re working together-” Dib carefully avoided saying the word “teammates” or “partners”- that would make the situation between him and the alien far too real and he was already starting to get too attached to the stupid alien- “Doesn’t mean that I’m going to agree to whatever you say when you do nice things for me.”

With a dramatic roll of his clearly fake eyes, Zim let out a sigh, “I will help you in this endeavour because, regardless of whether or not you decide to join the Armada, we are partners. It’s what we’re supposed to do.”

Dib just shrugged, remaining silent. As much as he wanted to believe that he could see the alien as a real friend- as much as he was  _ beginning _ to see the alien as a real friend- he knew it was irrational and idiotic of him to trust the alien too much. He knew it was only a matter of time before something bad happened. He couldn’t bring himself to lend Zim all of his trust, even if something deep inside him was begging him to give in and just  _ do it _ . 

“I am going to help you, Dib, because I  _ want _ to,” Zim sounded exasperated as he spoke, “And if you’re about to ask why I would do that if it doesn’t benefit me directly: it  _ does _ . If you’re happy and our relationship goes well, then that affects me as well. We’re working together and, whether you like it or not, that means that what happens to you directly impacts me, too. We’re allies. That  _ means _ something to me, Dib-Thing.”

Something about those words twisted Dib’s innards into intricate knots. He  _ wanted _ to believe that- he truly did. He wanted nothing more than to be able to befriend Zim and trust him. It had felt nice-  _ right _ even- to share his innermost worries with the alien, even if Zim couldn’t relate to the problems that he faced with his father. The fact that, instead of belittling Dib for his worries or degrading the human race as a whole for being so emotional and having such idiotic problems, he actually tried to sympathize and give Dib emotional support was… honestly, something that DIb still couldn’t get over, despite the time that had passed. It felt so  _ strange  _ for the alien to be genuinely kind of him. He couldn’t remember the last time he had opened up to someone in the way that he did to Zim and both the act itself and Zim’s response made him feel  _ far _ better. 

Regardless of this, Dib couldn’t help but feel  _ terrified _ . Zim was working towards world domination- he was actively making attempts to take over the very world that Dib inhabited and had called home his entire life. He was putting everything Dib cared about the most at stake just by  _ existing _ and the fact that Dib was even giving Zim a chance was… horrifying to the teenager. From what he had learned about Irkens as an entire race, they were very infrequently kind and compassionate people. They seemed to tend to kill first and ask questions never. This was not the species from space that would likely make friends with a creature from the planet they intended to destroy or overthrow and actively try to  _ help _ them, this was the species that would manipulate and slaughter those weaker than them. As much as Dib hated to admit it, he fell into that “weaker” category. For all he knew, despite Zim’s words, he  _ was _ just using him so he could overthrow his planet and then do terrible things to him once he was done. 

Needless to say, Dib was more than a bit conflicted about the situation. 

Dib loathed the realization that he wanted to talk to Mr. Elliot about this and get his opinion on it, even if he couldn’t share all of the information with the man. He still didn’t completely trust him, and he  _ was _ still irritated that he was being forced to visit him for help against his will, but being able to share at least part of the truth about the situation he was dealing with was nice. As much as he doubted it, there was a chance the man would have some insight. He would have to talk to him about this when he saw him next.

A dramatic wave of his alien counterpart’s hand in front of Dib’s face snapped him out from his stupor- something that had been happening more and more as of late considering his stress regarding the situation with Zim. 

“Hello? Dib, is there something wrong with your little human brain?”

With a snort, Dib batted Zim’s hand away, “I’m  _ fine _ and so is my brain.”

“Well, we’re  _ here _ Earth-Boy,” Zim announced, gesturing to his base, “Let’s go.”

~~~

Zim could tell that there was something going on with Dib. Despite the fact that he didn’t personally know much about how humans processed their emotions, he had learned enough from his months at their horrid school to pick up on a few things. It was obvious even to  _ him _ that the human was worried about something. 

While Zim couldn’t quite make out what specifically was bothering Dib- because, well, the human had a  _ myriad _ of problems surrounding him, from what he could see- he could tell there was definitely  _ something  _ going on with him. Plus, the alien had a feeling it had to do with their previous conversation, or, more accurately with  _ him _ . 

As revolting as it was, Zim  _ did _ care about the human and he  _ desperately _ didn’t want him to feel distressed because of something as stupid as him not being able to get over his fear of him (Zim didn’t like to acknowledge the fact that  _ he _ may have been part of the problem there). He wanted to do or say something that could ease his new friend’s concerns about him, but there was nothing that seemed to be good enough. Even when he directly told him that he wasn’t going to turn on Dib, even when he offered to help him with his revenge plots against the filth of their school, Dib remained suspicious of his motivations (which Zim found incredibly irritating but knew was far from unfounded).

They spread out their work on the floor of the living room- as had become ritual for them- and began work on their project. Of course, they were interrupted by GIR on several occasions, but Dib and Zim easily distracted him with food, and, on a couple of occasions, GIR just sat with them while watching something on the TV. It was nice. A little chaotic and not the  _ best _ circumstances for concentration, but it was a nice taste of normalcy for the two of them. 

For a great while during their time working on the project that day, Zim found his mind wandering. He spent several moments between crunching numbers and scribbling down equations to ponder different ways he could make Dib believe him. 

Finally, Zim decided upon what he could do. 

He didn’t bring it up until they decided that they were done for the day and Dib began packing up his things to return to his own home. 

“Dib…” Zim began carefully. In all honesty, he was a bit nervous about this as well, though he certainly wasn’t too worried- it wasn’t as if he were revealing something ground-breaking, “I have something to show you.”

“Yeah?” Dib narrowed his eyes wearily. 

Without a second thought, Zim removed his wig, letting his antennae finally sit freely atop his head. He plucked the uncomfortable contact lenses from his eyes, revealing the magenta colour of his large, solid eyes. 

It wasn’t much and Zim knew that. Considering Dib already knew that he was an alien, it didn’t really do much to show him his true form. Regardless, it was still some form of... vulnerability (the word tasted bitter on his tongue) and he hoped it would mean something to Dib-  _ prove _ something to him.

Dib blinked, scrunching his eyelids closed tightly before opening them again as if he couldn’t tell whether or not he was seeing Zim correctly. His eyes carefully trailed over the alien, taking in the new features. 

“You… look like an insect,” Dib let out a soft snort. Before Zim could hit him with an insult (or physically with his fists), Dib continued, “You look better without the shitty disguise, though. You look more.. Real like this, Space Boy.”

“I’m pleased to see that you appreciate my superior Irken form.”

With a roll of his eyes, Dib let out a soft laugh, “I  _ definitely _ wouldn’t say that, but at least I finally know something about your real anatomy- and I  _ finally _ don’t have to look at that terrible costume anymore.”

“Hey!” Zim defended, “My disguise is ingenious!”

“It’s a vaguely human wig and a pair of contact lenses- it is  _ not _ the pique of anonymity,” Dib shook his head. 

“You’re just  _ blind _ , Fool-Boy.”

“Considering the fact that I saw through your disguise the second you came into our school despite no one else noticing? I’d disagree.”

“Fine, fine,” Zim waved his hand dismissively, “I  _ suppose _ you’re less pathetic than the other filthy worm babies on this planet.”

“You sounded  _ way _ more positive about me when you were asking me to be your ally,” Dib smirked. 

“You are leaps and bounds ahead of some of these humans, but you  _ are _ still human.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dib rolled his eyes once more, “I should go, now. I still have some homework to do.”

“Have fun with that. Goodbye, Dib-Beast.”

“See you tomorrow, Space Boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlike the previous chapter, this one was not written at 2:00 AM, so, hopefully, this one is better. Thank you for your patience.


	19. Complicated

Unlike the majority of Dib’s meetings with Mr. Elliot, Dib actually didn’t find himself dreading seeing the psychologist. In all honesty, he felt kind of relieved to be able to talk to someone who- supposedly- knew what they were doing. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he  _ knew _ that he needed to talk to someone about all of the things that were going on in his mind. 

Lately, there were times when Dib’s thoughts were so full and messy that he had a difficult time focusing on other things and that  _ definitely _ wasn’t a good thing- not just in general but specifically at his school considering how highly competitive it was. It was difficult to deal with other things in his life when he felt so stressed out regarding his relationship with Zim. He was focusing so much of his time and energy into what they were doing and what was going on between the two of them, yet things still felt off. He didn’t know if it was because he couldn’t completely trust the alien, or because he didn’t know what they were going to do in the future, but it was beginning to be a problem.

Dib couldn’t help the sigh that escaped his lips when he entered Mr. Elliot’s office, finally escaping the hazardous hallways of Astra Academy.

As per the usual, Mr. Elliot greeted him cheerfully and Dib returned the greeting with as much enthusiasm as he could muster (which was far less than the therapist could). 

“So, Dib, you look like you have something on your mind.”

“When do I not?” 

Mr. Elliot chuckled in response, “Well, what is it in particular?”

Dib opened his mouth to explain before hesitating. He had already grown used to carefully dancing around the actual situation, phrasing everything he said very specifically so that he could avoid revealing anything that would result in him getting thrown into a mental institute. That  _ definitely _ limited him, though. 

He couldn’t bring up the thing that was bothering him the most because that would reveal too much. Dib didn’t even know if there was any way for him to bring up the fact that the fate of the Earth rested almost solely upon him and how pathetic he was without  _ actually _ saying it.

Mr. Elliot leaned forward in his chair, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Dib muttered, but it was an obvious lie and Dib was certain that Mr. Elliot knew that. He couldn’t exactly outright tell Mr. Elliot- or  _ anyone _ for the matter- that he was going to have to choose between the safety of Earth and his new friendship very soon. It just wasn’t something that he could talk about without raising a few eyebrows and drawing suspicion towards himself. He couldn’t even think of a “normal” way to describe his problem so that he could get advice from Mr. Eliot about what to do.

“You’re having a difficult time verbalising your issue.” It wasn’t’ a question. 

“I have… I guess a big decision to make and I don’t know how I can decide.”

“What kind of decision?” Mr. Elliot asked, “Are you already applying to universities or…?”

“Something like that…” Dib fiddled with the sleeves of his uniform, “I have to choose between two things and, the more I think about it, the less I want to give up one for the other.”

“Would you like to talk through the pros and cons of both? It might help to get all of your thoughts out and organize them. Decision making can be easier when you talk through it.”

Dib shook his head immediately. There was  _ no _ way for him to survive the conversation if he even attempted that, “The thing is, I don’t  _ want _ to have to choose. I want to be able to keep both of these things in my life.”

Mr. Elliot shifted slightly in his seat, thinking, “Well, maybe there’s a way for you to choose both.”

“How?”

“It depends on the situation, I suppose. If you’re thinking about universities, you’re smart enough and have the funds to be able to take classes at two different ones- though you’d likely have to take online courses at one or something along those lines,” he elaborated, making vague gestures with his hands, “You may have to make some compromises, but there  _ are _ ways to choose both sides.”

Dib narrowed his eyes in thought and nodded. He didn’t know if that would  _ really _ work in his situation. It wasn’t like he could tell Zim that he wanted to continue to work with him when he actively got in Zim’s way of succeeding on his mission. It was more complicated than just finding a “compromise”.

“What if I can’t?”

“When’s the deadline for this decision?”

“I still have some time.”

“If you _really_ can’t find a way to get both, then take the time you have to figure out which one you want. Sometimes, it can be difficult but making lists and talking to people about it can help,” Mr. Elliot suggested, “A lot of times, people have a difficult time making a decision because one is the thing that they want and one is the thing that they _think_ they need to choose.”

“And, what if that’s the case?” DIb raised an eyebrow. While that was  _ closer _ to the situation, he didn’t exactly  _ want _ to give up his entire planet.

“Sometimes… you just have to choose what’s best for you and what will make  _ you _ happy.”

Dib had a feeling that, if Mr. Elliot knew what was truly at stake, he wouldn’t be suggesting he allow the Earth to be destroyed just because an alien was being nice to him.

Seeming to catch on that that particular discussion was over, Mr Elliot moved on, “Is there anything else you want to discuss?”

“There’s something that I  _ could _ do that I sort of  _ want _ to do, but I think it would… make me a bad person,” Dib didn’t particularly care about being the best person ever, but he felt that that was the safest way to phrase it.

“You aren’t talking about something violent, are you?”

“No!” Dib answered quickly, eyes widening. It would  _ definitely _ be bad if  _ anyone _ at his school was convinced that Dib was going to do something incredibly violent and heinous. “I’m not going  _ hurt _ them, but I have the potential to get… I guess revenge?” Dib internally groaned. That sounded even  _ more _ suspicious. 

“I’m not going to tell you what to do, but you’ve been making a lot of progress in different aspects of your life. Do you really want to change that with something so petty?”

Dib blinked. He hadn’t really thought of it that way, but Mr. Elliot actually had a decent point, in some ways. 

Nodding, Dib finally pushed himself to his feet so he could take his leave. He didn’t have much time before the bell rang and, while he didn’t really have all the answers- or any of them, really- he did feel a  _ little _ better from their conversation. 

~~~

Ever since Zim had taken off his disguise around Dib for the first time, he completely stopped wearing the disguise whenever the human came over to his home to work on their project. It came as a great relief to the alien that he was able to take off his uncomfortably itchy wig and scratchy contact lenses when in the safety of his base with Dib. In all honesty, it made things far easier for Zim and he didn’t know why he hadn’t started doing this ages ago.

The first hour or so was fairly productive for the two of them until Dib eventually stilled in his work as if deep in thought, pondering what to say and how to say it. 

Zim said nothing but he did look up and meet the human’s eyes. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“As long as it’s not an idiotic question, of course.”

Dib snorted and playfully punched Zim in the shoulder- it was strange how they went from pummeling one another until they bled to gently play-fighting like this, almost like what humans seemed to do with their friends (not that it was an unwelcome change). “I wanted to ask you… why exactly are you doing this?”

“Eh? Doing what?”

“This project and other shit with school,” Dib elaborated, “I mean, it doesn’t really seem like something that’s directly beneficial to you taking over Earth.”

“ _ That’s _ a stupid question.”

Dib rolled his eyes, “Don’t avoid it, Space Boy. It’s important.”

“I don’t see why you care but, for one, I suppose it’s nice to do something on the side of my main mission. It definitely  _ does _ benefit me to do well here and to gain a decent social standing on this planet- even if it  _ is _ only enhabited by you filthy worms-” Zim ignored this glare DIb shot him at that- “It will make my mission much easier.”

Dib nodded, seemingly thinking over what Zim had said before asking his follow-up, “And what’s the other reason?”

“Well…” Zim tilted his head to the side as he thought of how he wanted to phrase what he was going to say. As much as he wanted to avoid sounding mushy and pathetically emotional about the topic, there really wasn’t a more stoic way of explaining the main thing that had been driving him with their project, lately. How exactly was one supposed to go about telling their kind-of-enemy that they were doing something specifically for them and to make them happy? 

“Do you remember what you told me about you and your paternal unit?”

Dib grimaced at the memory. Clearly, he wasn’t used to speaking openly about emotional topics, either. It gave Zim some vague sense of solace to know that they were both completely out of their element discussing this.

“Your relationship clearly makes you unhappy, and he seemed strangely excited that you were making progress on the project-”

Blinking, Dib leaned back, “Wait wait wait- you’re doing this because you want to  _ help  _ me fix shit with my dad?”

“Well,  _ yes _ . What else did you think?”

“I  _ assumed  _ you were doing this just so I would hand over Earth,” the Dib muttered, gaze flickering off to the side in thought.

While that was obviously what Zim  _ wanted _ \- at least in some capacity- he had definitely been focusing more on Dib and his father’s strange, dysfunctional relationship. Perhaps it was the idea of Zim having the same kind of relationship with his Tallests that made his chest ache, or the thought of Dib suffering because he was struggling with his own Tallest. Regardless, Zim couldn’t help but  _ want _ to do something to fix Dib’s odd problem- even if it was a small detour in regards to his actual mission (and, hey, if it made Dib trust him more and join him in the process, then Zim wasn’t complaining).

“ _ Obviously _ , that would be ideal but I don’t expect you to do that over some idiotic project. Unlike most of the others on this awful little ball of dirt, you’re unfortunately smart.”

“Gee, thanks,” Dib rolled his eyes once more- what was with that human doing that gesture so frequently?- and continued, “You’re really confusing, Space Boy.”

“I wouldn’t expect a lower life form to understand my motives.”

Dib narrowed his eyes, “See? You say shit like  _ that _ immediately after saying that you want to help me with my weird Daddy issues. You want to fix my life on this planet before you destroy the entire thing- that just seems so counter-productive.”

Zim could practically feel heat rising to his face as Dib called him out on that, “I don’t plan on  _ killing you _ if you join me, Dib. I  _ want _ you to join me and I can’t have someone who’s constantly mopey about their terrible life fighting at my side.” It wasn’t  _ exactly _ true, but it wasn’t false either.

Dib hummed, regarding him carefully for a moment before returning to his work, closing that conversation for the time being. Despite turning back to his work, Zim could tell that Dib was still preoccupied with their previous discussion.

After a long pause, Zim suggested something, “Would you like to seek your revenge against that stupid girl on the school paper?”

“I don’t think I’m going to do anything about that, actually,” Dib sighed, running a hand through his ridiculous hair, “She isn’t worth it.”

While Zim would still likely seek revenge on someone even as pathetic as that human, he did agree with Dib on one thing he had said. “She  _ definitely _ isn’t worth your time.”

Dib gave Zim a small smile in response to his words and the very action made Zim feel strangely warm inside. 

“Thanks, Space Boy.”

“Anytime, Dib-Beast.”

Zim had a feeling Dib didn’t understand the full meaning of his words, but at least they seemed to make him happy. It was easier like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zim and Dib need to go to intergalactic therapy so that they can work through their shit.


	20. Burnt Out

The clock was ticking on their project and everyone could  _ feel _ it. The tension in the school hadn't been this high in ages (which was  _ certain _ ly saying something) and it had only risen. The number of people who had been caught for cheating was, while far smaller than the amount of  _ actual _ cheaters, shockingly large and Dib couldn't help but wonder  _ why _ they continued to do things like this. He swore that it was only a matter of time before one of his fellow students gave themselves a bleeding ulcer over this project and, while Dib didn't truly care about the health of his fellow students- especially with everything that had happened that year- but that didn't mean he didn't see the flaws in their system. 

Regardless, Dib found the chaos spiralling through the school kind of amusing. It felt nice to not have to be part of it- to know that he was doing well and that he had someone by his side to help him. As stupid and cheesy as it sounded, he was glad that he had Zim, even if it made his life far more complicated (and even a bit more stressful in some ways) to have an alien as his best friend. 

The only stress that he felt inflicted upon his life had little to nothing to do to school- thought Dib supposed that wasn’t much better, all things considered. It would most likely be deemed  _ worse _ to worry about one’s father not loving them or whether or not one should betray their entire planet to join their only friend to galavant through space, but Dib liked to pretend that that wasn’t the case. At least he got to watch them suffer and they didn’t get to see what  _ he _ was struggling with. That  _ definitely _ made up for the stressful situation that he was going through and Dib stubbornly refused to admit to even himself that that wasn’t the case. 

Instead of dealing with his problems, Dib decided to do what any sane man would do in his situation and completely avoid the former problem. 

He spent the majority of his time with Zim at his place, paying attention to him and their project rather than his more pressing problems simply because it was far easier to deal with. Most days, once the school day was over, rather than heading home as he usually would, he would go with Zim to his base where they would work on their project and various assignments as well as just messing around for a few hours. Typically, this would last until he absolutely needed to head home for whatever reason. It was easy to avoid his home and his father most days, but especially so with his newfound friendship with the alien.

While he typically at least returned home at a decent hour of the day, things were different, that night. Rather than going home at a normal time, he ended up falling asleep at Zim’s house while they sat on the couch in the living room, watching and making fun of horrible movies. He hadn’t been sleeping well the past few days and it definitely didn’t come as a surprise to either of them that Dib ended up just passing out at Zim’s house instead of his own.

When Dib awoke, he was dazed and disoriented from taking a nap at a strange hour of the night in an odd location. Despite that, he felt far better after the little bit of sleep.

It was a little after midnight by the time Dib finally woke up, so he decided to head home immediately afterwards, waving to Zim and giving GIR a little pat on the head before making his way back home.

Dib knew that most kids would  _ probably _ be worried about heading home so late without telling their parents beforehand, but Dib’s situation wasn’t exactly like other kid’s situations. In all honesty, he was far more concerned about avoiding his home and his dad than he was about getting in trouble for returning home late one night. As much as he wanted his father’s love and acceptance, it was just simpler to avoid him completely and dodge negative attention and arguments from him by staying away as much as possible. 

Besides, Membrane was  _ far _ more focused on his own work than he was with his children and what time they arrived home on what day. It wasn’t as though his dad was home frequently anyways, so Dib wasn’t worried. The chances of his dad even being home by the time he got there was slim- and even lesser was the chance that he would notice were he home. Dib had nothing to be concerned about.

As it turned out, though, that wasn’t always the case.

Despite the late hour that Dib finally arrived back at his place after spending the day at Zim’s house, working on their project, Membrane was still awake and sitting at the dining room table. It wasn’t too surprising for Membrane to be up at the ungodly hours of the night- that was one thing Dib had in common with his dad- but the fact that he wasn’t holed up in his lab was new. Instead of being focused on his work like he typically was whenever he stayed up late, he was sipping tea, seemingly  _ waiting _ for something. 

It made Dib uneasy.

The sound of the door closing and locking behind Dib drew Membrane’s attention to him immediately. “Hello, Son.”

“Uh, hi, Dad.”

His father stood for a moment and gestured to the chair that was directly across from him at the table. Despite the fact that the movement was incredibly innocent and nonthreatening, Dib felt his fight or flight instincts kick in. He blamed it on the late hour of the night instead of admitting that it was because he felt uneasy with the sudden attention from his father.

Regardless, Dib found himself following the request and sitting down silently. 

“You’re home kind of late,” Membrane took a sip of the cup of tea he cradled in his hands. 

“I fell asleep at Zim’s house.”

He hummed, nodding slightly, “You haven’t been sleeping well, I take it?”

_ When do I ever? _ Dib thought bitterly, but he only nodded. 

An uncomfortable silence settled between the two of them, hanging heavy in the air for several moments. It was suffocating and Dib felt as though he was choking. 

“Was there something you wanted to talk to me about or are we just going to sit here?” Dib muttered, wanted to escape to the relative safety of his room where his only concern was his thoughts rather than having to worry about keeping up a dialogue with his father, “It’s late, so…”

“Yes, we  _ really _ need to talk, Dib,” Membrane cleared his throat and fidgeted with his cup slightly, “I’ve noticed that things have been... less than ideal, recently. I understand that you’re upset with me and that you’ve been facing problems with your new friend and with your  _ interests _ .”

Well, that was certainly one way to put it.

“And I haven’t been here for you through it,” Membrane sighed, “I haven’t been very present as of late, and I can tell that that has been weighing on you as well. You’re my son and, even if I don’t understand your passions, I should accept them. I should accept  _ you _ . I’m sorry that I haven’t been there for you like I should be.”

Dib blinked, somewhat taken aback by his dad’s words. As much as Dib had been  _ hoping _ that his dad would finally give him the love and acceptance that Dib had been seeking from him for  _ years _ , he didn’t truly believe that he would ever get that from his father. He never anticipated his dad actually apologizing for his absence throughout his 

life- for not giving him the love that he should have. 

“Thanks, Dad…” 

Membrane gave Dib a small smile that was just barely visible from under the high collar of his lab coat and Dib returned it almost sadly. After all of the difficulties in their relationship, it felt almost draining to finally have this conversation, even if it came as a massive relief to the both of them. Dib felt himself relax at the smile. Maybe things would  _ finally _ be okay in their strange little nuclear family. 

“Well…” Membrane stood up, “It’s late. I should let you get to sleep.”

Dib stood up as well, but before his father could retreat to their own laboratory, Dib bolted forward to hug him.

Membrane jumped slightly at the sudden movement but relaxed almost immediately after, setting down his half-full cup of tea so he could wrap his arms around his son properly. 

Things felt okay between them for the first time in a long while.

The moment Dib returned to his own bedroom, he flopped onto his bed and whipped out his phone, pulling up Zim’s contact- he had quickly become someone that he messaged somewhat frequently- to send him a short text. 

**Worm Baby:** You’ll never guess what just happened. 

~~~

As happy as Zim was to hear that Dib and his paternal unit had worked through some of their issues- and he truly was absolutely  _ thrilled  _ that his human seemed so excited about it- it certainly complicated his own decisions for the future. 

His Tallests were kind rulers and they loved and respected Zim deeply- that he knew for certain- but he still didn’t want to push his luck. Bringing back three or more  _ hostages _ was one thing, but bringing back at least three people that he was supposed to destroy to work with them instead was an entirely different ordeal. While the Armada could always benefit from more people working for them, Zim wasn’t sure that his Tallests would be pleased with three imperfect humans coming along merely because Zim had gotten attached to one of them.

Even just months ago- before he landed on the ball of dirt that he could now call a second home- Zim would probably agree with that sentiment. He saw nearly all other lifeforms across the galaxy as lesser than Irkens as a race- he even saw humans as generally lesser than himself with Dib being just an exception rather than the rule. He had very little confidence that his fellow Invaders would accept and work beside beings from a planet they had conquered and he  _ refused _ to force Dib and his families to be slaves or food drones for his Tallests or the other Irkens. 

No matter. 

Zim was an absolute genius and he would figure out some way for it to all work out. He and his human were  _ going _ to live happily together as part of the Armada and if he had to struggle and debate with the others to get Dib’s family accepted into it as well for that to happen then so be it. He was  _ going _ to make everything work out one way or another and the memory of the human peacefully sleeping on his couch earlier that day solidified it in his mind that he could _not_ allow anything but the best for the two of them.

Instead of letting himself worry about that just yet, he simply celebrated with Dib.

**Space Boy:** Fucking finally. 

**Space Boy:** I’m glad he came around so I didn’t have to destroy his pitiful human body. <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going to pretend that it didn't take me an entire week to update this. Oops.
> 
> In all honesty though, I LITERALLY did not realize how long I had gone without updating this story. I know a week isn't MUCH time, but going from updating nearly every other day to that is... yeah. That was unintentional. Have some soft stuff to make up for it.


	21. Call

Dib hadn’t told Zim much about what he and his father had discussed the night when they had their conversation, but it was clear that things were better between the two of them. DIb was starting to invite Zim to his home to work on their project once more, no longer actively attempting to avoid his father (which made things far easier since GIR couldn’t bother them and get in their way when they worked at DIb’s house instead). It brought Zim a great deal of relief to see that Dib was feeling better in some small way. 

It was strange to the Irken- the idea of feeling happier simply because someone else’s pain had ended. On Irk, this was far from typical. From a young age, they were trained to be ruthless, to take  _ joy _ from other’s pain rather than wanting to bring it to an end. They were taught to do everything they did for the Tallests and take nothing else- living or otherwise- into consideration. 

Now, Zim found himself caring about a human- a creature living on the planet that he was supposed to overthrow- so much that he was altering his entire plan to ensure that Dib remained happy and safe. 

Altering his plan and working around his initial mission would be a bit difficult, especially now that Zim was only growing more attached to the human  _ and _ Dib was beginning to repair his relationship with his family, adding more people to the equation. 

Regardless, Zim wasn’t too worried. Most Invaders- specifically ones that were assigned to planets inhabited by creatures with any sort of development- could take quite a bit of time on their missions so it wasn’t  _ too _ suspicious that he had yet to complete his assignment. Still, he hadn’t contacted his Tallests in quite some time and he knew that they must be worried due to it. Not contacting the Massive with any updates for as long of a time as Zim had gone  _ was _ a bit suspicious, so he decided that today would be the day that he broke the pattern of ignoring and avoiding them to finally reached out to them once more. Besides, it would give him the chance to subtly ask them the questions that he had burning within him.

“Computer! Call the Tallests.”

With a dramatic sigh that, had Computer had eyes, implied he would be rolling them, he followed Zim’s command, lowering the main monitor in Zim lab and beginning the process of connecting them. For a few moments, the screen was filled with only static and the Irken insignia, signifying that he was being put through to them. 

A small click was the only warning Zim got before the static cleared, leaving him with the sight of Purple and Red standing before him, looking mildly bored, as though they had just been dealing with something that they would rather not have their minds on. “Yes, Zim?”

“Hello, my Tallests!” Zim grinned, exposing his sharp, zipper-like teeth as he did so, “I have called with a mission update.”

Red and Purple shared a conspiratorial glance, antennae perking slightly at his words. 

Red turned back to the camera, eyeing Zim carefully, “Go on.”

“I have been making a great deal of progress on my mission to conquer the planet Earth. The humans living here are incredibly primitive and the majority of them are foolish, idiotic creatures. They were not difficult to gain the trust of, nor will they be difficult to destroy nor enslave.”

The two said nothing, though it was clear that they were listening to what he had to say. There was something in their eyes that betrayed a small amount of confusion towards Zim’s words. Perhaps they weren’t expecting his call- which made sense considering he had yet to call them despite the months that had gone by.

“Good job, Zim.” The way Purple phrased it sounded somewhat like a question, but Zim brushed it off.

“I… do have a question, though, my Tallests.”

“What is it?”

Zim took a deep breath, carefully thinking of how he would phrase his question without sounding too obvious. He didn’t want them to know that he had gone soft for the stupid human he was supposed to be working towards destroying, but the question was a dire one. “ _Hypothetically_ _speaking_ , if I were to discover a few creatures that I believed would be good allies to the Irken Armada and to its cause and who were completely willing, how would you react to the idea of them joining our forces?”

Simultaneously, Red and Purple narrowed their eyes. They regarded him with a strange look, as though they expected him to burst into flames without warning, suddenly erupting into a chaotic, feral mess. The look they gave him was the look one would give to a pile of a strange substance if they were unsure of whether or not it was dangerous to them. 

Clearly, his question had not landed well. 

“Purely a hypothetical question,” Zim backpedalled quickly, “I only ask out of curiosity!”

“Riiiight…” Red tilted his head, watching Zim closely as the Invader let out a small, awkward chuckle. 

“ _ Hypothetically _ speaking…” Purple began, playing along with Zim’s game, “I would remind you that, the creatures across the rest of the universe are not worthy of being part of the Armada. Unless, of course, you want them as a slave or a pet.”

Before Zim had time to school his expression, he felt his facial features twist slightly at the very  _ thought _ of keeping Dib as a  _ pet _ . It was such a demeaning title and, as much as he likely would have enjoyed having the human working under him back when he first met Dib and before they formed their strange but happy and functional truce, thinking of it now made him  _ nauseated _ . Dib was so smart and capable that envisioning him as some pet for the Armada to keep around for their enjoyment was disgusting. He was too brilliant for that, and, if Zim was being honest, he was too attached to him to force him into a position that he  _ knew _ wouldn’t be fulfilling for him. 

“And what if I  _ wasn’t _ interested in keeping them- this hypothetical creature- as a pet?”

“I  _ highly _ doubt that anyone from that planet you’re currently on would be anywhere near qualified enough to work in our forces,” Purple crossed his arms, though the look across his face betrayed the fact that he was considering something. 

Red just sighed, “We don’t  _ care _ , Zim. Just- focus on your... mission, or whatever.”

Zim frowned at the flippant response. They hadn’t answered his question very directly… 

No matter! He understood why they wanted him to drop the subject and focus back in on his mission. It was an important one after all and, even if they didn’t know the ways in which he had altered it, they knew that he was, in fact, making progress. Clearly, they just didn’t want him to hinder himself by asking them ridiculous “hypotheticals”. 

Even if his mission was different than it initially had been, it  _ was _ important for him to focus on his work and not get distracted, even if that  _ did _ mean leaving some of his important questions and concerns unanswered…

“Of course, my Tallests! I will continue my efforts towards my mission. Zim signing off.” With a salute, Zim had Computer disconnect from them. 

“So , what are you going to do about your “pet”?” Computer asked, teasing lilt clear in his voice. 

“Oh, silence before I rewire you!” Zim snapped, tugging at the end of his antennae slightly, “I’m not sure, yet, but that doesn’t matter. We’ll be fine. I have no reason to worry about this.”

“Of course not.” Computer drawled, clearly not convinced by Zim’s words. 

“I don’t! I may not have a plan, yet, but I  _ know _ that things will work out. The Almighty Zim  _ never _ fails.”

~~~

The moment that the call ended, Red and Purple turned to one another. 

“Did you know that he was alive?”

“Would you still be in the dark about if I  _ did _ know,” Red countered.

“ _ How _ is he still alive? We sent him to that stupid fucking planet  _ specifically _ so that we wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore.”

“You think I  _ don’t _ know that?” Red pressed two claws to his temple, thinking, “And he’s made  _ friends _ down there.”

Purple couldn’t help but sigh at the reminder of what had occurred over the course of the short call. He was  _ not _ happy that Zim had actually gotten back to them- that he was still  _ alive _ and trying to work for the Armada- and it was clear that his co-ruler shared that sentiment. 

“Can you  _ imagine _ what kind of person Zim would bring back to the Armada?” Red could only picture creatures as chaotic and idiotic as Zim- someone who couldn’t add anything to their cause and would only work to tear down the entirety of the Irken race. Considering everything that Zim had done in the past, he thought it was a fair assessment to assume that, whoever it was that Zim wanted to team up with, would be absolutely horrible for them. “We’re going to have to start coming up with fake missions for  _ two _ idiotic, useless Invaders, aren’t we?”

“How can you even  _ get _ any worse than Zim? “In the midst of his wallowing, Purple paused, “What if they  _ aren’t _ as bad as Zim?”

“Do you  _ really _ think anyone even  _ vaguely _ competent would join forces with Zim?” Red didn’t seem impressed with Purple’s words. 

“Obviously not, but is there  _ really _ anyone worse than Zim? If he found someone even  _ slightly _ more competent than he is, maybe he’ll be less destructive to the Armada.”

Red didn’t completely believe Purple’s theory, but, if there was even the slightest chance that Zim’s destruction towards the Armada would wane, then he was willing to take it (even if he  _ desperately _ didn’t want to do the work that went into that).

“Besides,” Purple continued, “He’s focusing on whoever it is that he’s trying to force into our ranks. He probably won’t even end up finishing his “mission” if he spends all of his time working with the human.”

Red let out a small chuckle. Purple  _ did _ have a point. Zim had gone quite a long time before even bothering to contact them. What were the chances that he would  _ ever _ finish with his “mission” if he was more focused on trying to make the pathetic creature worthy of joining the Armada- something that would  _ obviously _ never happen?

They had nothing to worry about. 


	22. Dreaded End Among the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started off confident with where this was going and then, towards the end, I got tired but lost no motivation so I kept going. I'm mildly concerned that it's a bit of a mess.

It felt as though entire years had gone by, though it had been far from that long. Despite the amount of time that had actually passed, Dib felt as though the time between meeting Zim and finally turning in their assignment was an eternity. Certainly, an incredible amount of things had changed between then and now. While their relationship had started off with bloodshed and violence, things had changed between them and their relationship had grown into something beautiful. Now, their friendship was strong and flourishing despite the strangeness of its nature and, despite everything that Dib had initially thought about Zim, he really treasured their friendship. He couldn’t help it! The Irken had done so much for him and had proved beyond a doubt that he cared. Besides, he was one of the few people in his life who  _ listened  _ to him- who thought he was actually competent. 

Dib knew that Zim felt the same way. 

As much as the alien tried to hide it, it was clear to Dib that he wasn’t alone in his feelings. If Zim didn’t care about him, he wouldn’t have done everything that he had done for DIb. If Zim truly saw him as nothing more than an enemy and a nuisance, they wouldn’t be where they were currently. Zim wouldn’t have tried to help fix Dib’s relationship with his father, nor would he have offered to help Dib with even his most petty difficulties. 

Yes, Zim cared, and, while a small part of Dib’s head was screaming at him that he was putting himself in danger by trusting the other, he ignored the voice. As he had learned throughout the years, you never gained anything if you didn’t take risks. Loving Zim was a risk, that was certain, but Dib knew that the payoff of doing so- of trusting and caring for the alien- would heavily outweigh the dangers associated with it.

Dib knew that he was not alone when it came to the nervousness he felt while handing in his project on the final day. His anxiety came from a completely different source than the rest of his peers, though. 

He and Zim had poured a massive amount of effort into their project and the two of them had the combined IQ of Athena- he had no reason to worry about his grade on the assignment. The likelihood of their project far surpassing that of their peers was astronomical (pun  _ fully _ intended), so Dib didn’t even bother worrying about it. No, his attention was on something else entirely.

His attention was on the decision he had to make now that they had finished- the thing that had been bothering him more than the project had been over the course of the past few days- hell, the past few  _ weeks _ . 

There were so many things that DIb wanted and he knew that they weren’t all completely plausible. How exactly was he supposed to keep his life intact like this? A future in which Dib was able to keep his family, his planet,  _ and _ Zim all at once didn’t seem likely. Afterall, Zim had been sent to Earth with the specific intent to destroy and take over the entire planet. He worked for something far more powerful than Dib was- he was smart enough to acknowledge that. 

Ideally, Dib would be able to keep his relationship with Zim while protecting his planet as well. That, as simple as it was, seemed out of the realm of possibility, though. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to get what he wanted and the stress of spending so much time thinking about how he could possibly get the best of both worlds was slowly getting to him.

Things were more complicated that he wanted them to be and, as the days went by, he only grew more concerned that things wouldn’t work out in his favour.

If he had never met the alien in the first place, Dib wouldn’t be having all of these issues. He wouldn’t have to worry about choosing between the closest friend he had ever had and the planet that he had called home his entire life. Dib wouldn’t have to hold concern about the wellbeing of his planet and his loved one’s close to his heart if he had never met Zim. Life would have been so much simpler if he had never come into contact with the Irken.

If Dib was being honest, though, he wouldn’t give up his friendship with Zim, for anything in the galaxies. The stress that came with his choice was worth it for someone like Zim in his life. Despite the oddity that was their relationship, Dib was happy that he had met the Irken. 

As he finally handed in the project, Dib still didn’t know what he was going to tell Zim, and he was still nervous about that lingering uncertainty. Regardless, he felt no regret as the binder stuffed with pages upon pages of notes and hard work left his hands. 

~~~

“You know…” Dib began, kicking a pebble away from him as they walked together. They weren’t going to the same place- they didn’t really have a need to do so since they had completed their little mission for school- but they were walking together until they had to part ways all the same. Zim appreciated the company on the journey. “I really appreciate your friendship.” Dib finally said.

Zim had no clue where  _ that  _ came from. They hadn’t interacted much that day aside from their usual banter and partnership in the classes they shared. The two of them hadn’t even been discussing anything in particular before the human made that proclamation- they had simply been talking about anything and everything, nonsensical words about random topics spilling from their lips as they went.

Regardless of the suddenness of those words, Zim couldn’t help but feel a strange emotion overcome him at the very mention of it. Something warm and fuzzy spread throughout him, “I could say the same to you, Dib-Thing.”

A small smile graced the human’s features and he took a step closer to Zim, playfully bumping his shoulder up against the other and knocking him slightly off balance. 

Zim responded with a shark-like grin of his own, retaliating by pushing back against him as well. 

Their small, stupid game continued until they had to part ways to get to their respective homes. 

Before Zim could completely turn away from Dib, he called out to him, “Hey, Space Boy. Text me when you get home. We have to get together again. You haven’t gotten rid of me just because we finished the project.”

“As if I would ever want to get rid of you,” Zim joked.

While the moment hadn’t lasted long, the words that DIb said clung to Zim, bounding around within his skull persistently. 

He had to call his Tallests and he had to do so soon.

~~~

For the first time ever, Dib and Zim hung out with one another without the pretense of working on their project. Unlike every other time they had gotten together in the past, this meeting had nothing to do with school or work and everything to do with them. This time, it was just the two of them hanging out like- what Zim assumed to be- “normal” friends. 

Which was exactly why Zim found himself feeling slightly strange about it. 

This was completely out of their domain of things that they were used to and aware of, so it was no surprise that the both of them seemed to feel a bit off bout the situation. Zim wouldn’t say that he was nervous, though! The Almighty Zim would never feel such pathetic, ridiculous emotions such as anxiousness. He just wasn’t like that- he wasn’t like humans. 

...Still, it felt odd to somewhat break their rhythm by getting together without having to be spurred on by their project. Zim was slightly surprised that Dib had even suggested it in the first place considering how distant he typically was and how much he seemed to dislike the idea of working with Zim initially, even if it went well (definitely something that impacted the both of them). The human seemed so deep in his own big head constantly that, sometimes, when he made decisions like that, it seemed sudden. Considering the fact that Dib seemed to never slow down- especially in his thoughts- Zim highly doubted that he made any of his decisions on a whim- least of all ones like this. 

On top of that, Zim still hadn’t contacted his Tallests to talk more in-depth about Dib. He needed to sell them fully on the idea of the human returning with him. He had to make preparations for the human to come along with him and, to do so, he had to get the Tallests on board.

Regardless, Zim found himself looking forward to their meeting far more than he felt “not” anxious about it. 

As several of their previous meetings had occurred while they were still working on their project, the two of them walked to Dib’s house together after school. It was clear that the both of them were at a loss as to what they would do since they didn’t have the project to focus on. To ward this off, they started out working on their homework together, eventually giving up on trying to be productive when their conversations dissolved into something far more interesting to both of them.

As Dib came down from a fit of laughter, a smile still n his face, he met Zim’s eyes. Immediately, he schooled his expression into something more serious, “I have to talk to you about something.” 

Zim blinked, slightly surprised by the change in mood. Regardless, he shifted slightly so that he could face his companion more directly, “What is it?”

Dib took a deep breath before he spoke, “I’m not going to let you take Earth for the Armada.”

Zim didn’t know what to say to that. He hadn’t even truly  _ considered _ the possibility that Dib would refuse to join him. In truth, he didn’t know what he was going to do with that information- he hadn’t planned for that outcome. He had so expected Dib to join him that he forgot that there was any other option for him. “But we…”

Dib held up a hand, stopping him there, “But I’m  _ not _ leaving you.” He let out a small sigh, “I  _ know _ you were sent here for Earth, but I just can’t give it to you like that. I can’t… I can’t just  _ let _ someone destroy my home like that… but I also don’t want to lose you, I want you in my life.”

Zim nodded slowly. 

“I’ll go with you. At least, I’ll join you and I’ll travel, helping you do whatever it is you do, but I  _ do _ want to come back every once in a while to visit my family.” Dib nodded resolutely, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt this planet, but I  _ want _ to stay with you.”

“So… you will join me, then?”

“As long as the Earth remains safe.”

“That seems like a fair trade.”

Dib grinned, “Then I will follow you to the ends of the universe.”

Relief washed over Zim and he couldn’t help but lunge forward and wrap his friend in a hug, pulling him close and holding him tightly in his arms. He would have to work out his plans, but, for now, he was content to just stay in Dib’s arms, basking in their shared warmth and friendship.

~~~

Finally, things had come together in almost perfect harmony. It hadn’t worked out exactly as Zim had intended, but he was more than happy to give up on one small, pathetic planet if it meant being able to spend the rest of eternity with Dib. Everything had worked out, even if it hadn’t happened in the way Zim had expected. 

All he had to do from there was speak to the Tallests about the situation.

Not much time had passed since Zim’s last call with the two of them, and it was obvious from their reaction to his call that they hadn’t been expecting another call from him so soon. Perhaps they were irritated that he was calling so shortly after their previous one- and without an  _ actual _ update, at that. Zim couldn’t blame them.

“What is it  _ this time _ , Zim?” Red’s voice dripped with irritation, but Zim ignored it. He had something important to ask. 

With more conviction than the other night, Zim spoke, “I have found someone who would be a fantastic asset to the Irken Armada. He is fully capable and willing. He is more powerful and competent than several of our actual Invaders. I intend on bringing him back with me when I return for my next mission.”

Purple sighed, “Zim-”

“He may be a lower lifeform, but he is not truly one of them.”

“ _ Zim _ .”

“He is-”

“We don’t  _ care _ , Zim!” Purple finally snapped. 

Zim blinked, slightly taken aback, “But he’s-”

“It doesn’t  _ matter _ what you have to say about him. You’re not bringing him back with you.” Red grit his teeth as he spoke. 

“Why  _ not _ ? You have no good reason to deny-”

“You can’t bring him back with you because you are  _ never _ coming back to the Armada, Zim,” Red hissed, “We were going to let you stay blissfully unaware, but, now that you’re trying to sabotage the entire Armada with your pathetic human companion, we can’t humour you anymore.”

As his leader spoke, Zim’s antennae fell, shoulders slumping as he heard their words. All of the fight he had gotten from dib and his kind words dissipated, leaving his body the moment he heard the truth from them. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“Of  _ course _ you don’t,” Purple shook his head, “You are  _ never _ coming back. You’re not one of us, anymore. You’re  _ defective _ .”

Zim didn’t have time to process what had been said to him, let alone speak his mind about it and try to get out of it. The Tallests hung up before he had the chance to do so, leaving him staring, wide-eyed and confused at a screen filled with sparkling shades of grey, the static in the computer monitor reflecting what he felt.

Tears pricked at Zim’s eyes despite his stubborn attempts to keep it back, eyes stinging slightly with the tears he attempted to hold in. His throat closed with absolute distress. How could they just abandon him like that? What had he done to lose their respect? What  _ happened _ ?

Zim didn’t know how to process what had happened. 

Voice choppy and broken, he spoke another order, “Computer, call the Dib.”

~~~

Dib came as quickly as he could when he answered his phone only to be met with Zim’s choked up, distressed voice laced with more sadness than he had ever heard come from the Irken Invader. He sprinted all the way to Zim’s house, phone clutched in his hand as he attempted to stay on the phone with his friend while he ran there for the moral support- though Dib imagined he couldn’t be very good emotional support when he was out of breath and breathing too hard to hear the other.

When he entered the other’s home, he found Zim on the couch, curled in on himself and struggling to hold back tears.

Dib sat down next to Zim, wrapping his arms around the Invader comfortingly, hoping to be a supportive presence in his friend’s time of need, “What happened?”

It was clear from what Zim had said over the phone that something had happened between him and his leaders, but he wasn’t able to quite make it out properly over the phone, Zim being too upset to e heard correctly.

“They  _ left _ me,” Zim sobbed, “They sent me here to get rid of me! They don’t want me anymore.”

Dib felt his heart sink. After everything, here they were. Zim and his rulers had seemed so close before- Zim had made it obvious early on in their relationship that he cared about and respected them deeply. Their love- or the closest to love that they could get- meant a lot of Zim. To hear that that “love” wasn’t real… 

That kind of pain seemed unbearable. 

“They said I was defective…” Zim’s voice was pitifully weak and Dib couldn’t help but hold him a little closer at his words. 

“You’re  _ not _ defective, Zim,” Dib promised, “You’re  _ amazing _ . You’re clever, and strong, and kind, and witty, and you’re  _ perfect _ . It doesn’t matter what they say about you. You’re fantastic.” Perhaps it wasn’t something that DIb would normally say, but emotional vulnerability being intimidating wasn’t exactly his biggest problem at the moment. 

“Don’t you  _ get _ it, Dib?!” Zim snapped, “I have no purpose if I cannot serve my leaders. Irkens are made to do one thing and one thing only. I have ruined everything.”

“You’ve ruined  _ nothing _ ,” Dib took Zim’s face in his hands and looked him in the eyes, “Listen to me, okay?”

Zim nodded. 

“We’re going to fix this. You are an amazing Invader and if they can’ see that, that’s  _ their _ fault,” Dib held his gaze, voice definitive, “But if it is truly important to you that they know that, then let’s go show them what they’re missing out on.”

Zim took in a shaky breath, “How?”

“We’re a force to be reckoned with, even if they don’t see it. We can do what they need to get done without them finding out and report back to them once we’ve done so and take them by surprise with our prowess. Or we can completely go against them and make them pay for everything that they’ve done-” his hatred towards them had a great deal to do with Zim’s current distress but also related to his remaining bitterness towards them for daring to send someone to harm his planet- “It doesn’t matter what we do. We’ll find a way.”

“Why would you do that?”

“You helped me with my dad. Let me help you with your leaders.”

Zim let out a small chuckle, though his voice was still thick with tears, “I don’t know what to do, anymore.”

“We can figure that out.”

Zim took a deep breath, stabilizing himself. With a clawed hand, he brushed away the tears that spilt from his eyes and dripped down his face like a shower of meteors. As steadily as he could, he met Dib’s gaze, “Let’s show them who they’re dealing with.”

Dib gave him a small smile, “That’s the spirit, Space Boy.”

Dib didn’t know exactly what it was that he was getting himself into, but he knew that he was willing to go fairly far for Zim. After everything that they had gone through together, what was one more adventure? He was prepared for what the universe had to throw at them, even if it seemed insane to feel that way.

It was unexpected for both of them, but they were ready for this. They wouldn’t let the Armada win like that.

They were not a duo to be messed with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thinking about making a follow-up with Zim and Dib exploring space and either joining the Resisty and taking down the Armada or trying to join them once more. Thoughts?
> 
> (Also, this bad boy was one-hundred-nine pages on Google docs and my computer did NOT appreciate that.)


End file.
